August 13 marked the first centenary of the death of Florence Nightingale, better known as ‘The Lady with the Lamp’, because she always carried a lamp while visiting the sick.

She was born in Florence and was named after the city in which she was born on December 5, 1820.

She is known as the pioneer and reformer of the nursing profession and of hospital reform.

In the Victorian age, women did not follow university courses or professional careers. Yet Florence’s father Willam believed in education for women. Thus Florence and her sister learned Italian, Latin, Greek, history and maths.

In 1854 during the Crimean War, the Secretary of War appealed for 38 nurses, among whom was Florence Nightingale. They were sent to Scutari in Albania to tend wounded soldiers. During Florence’s stay in Albania new sanitary methods were introduced which led to a decline in mortality.

She invented polar-area charts. She introduced new learning methods which led to improved medical and surgical practices. She developed a model hospital statistical form for hospitals to collect and generate consultant data statistics.

In 1858 she became a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and in 1874 a member of the American Statistical Society. She was called a ‘prophetess’ in the development of applied statistics.

Thanks to her passion, helping the sick became a profession.

The Lady with the Lamp extinguished her lamp forever during her sleep on August 13, 1910.