Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople. She significantly reduced death rates by improving hygiene and living standards. Nightingale gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

12 May 1820

Born on the same birth day (12 May): Frank Stella • Gabriel Byrne • George Karl • Graeme Dott • Helene Weigel • Henry Cabot Lodge • Ian McLagan • Johnny Bucyk • Katharine Hepburn • Louis Hennepin • Mary Kay Ash • Rishi Sunak • Tony Hancock • Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury

Born in the same month (May 1820): James Buchanan Eads • James Martin (premier) • John Whiteaker • Julia Gardiner Tyler • Lorenzo Sawyer • Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau • Worthington Whittredge