15 Badass Facts About Florence Nightingale You Never Knew

by N/A, 10 years ago | 2 min read

You may think you've learned all you need to know about Florence Nightingale in history classes, but there's much more you could stand to learn.Â

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1. She was fluent in English, French, German and Italian.

Nightingale was of Latin and Greek descent. Her father was a Cambridge grad who made sure she got a well-rounded education.Â

2. She refused to get married.

She declined many proposals.Â

3. She chose to pursue nursing at a young age despite her parent's objections.

Nursing wasn't a respected profession in 1837, so her parents worried she would become an alcoholic or prostitute because of how low the wages were. Three years after she decided to dedicate herself to nursing, she became superintendent of a women's hospital.Â

4. She supervised almost forty nurses during the Crimean War.

She worked with 38 volunteers in a hospital at Scutari. She lost almost half of her patients because of how difficult it was to keep such a small space clean. She developed strict hygiene rules and 98% of patients recovered.Â

5. She earned her nickname because of how well she took care of her patients.

She was called "The Lady with the Lamp," because she would check up on her patients in the middle of the night with a lamp in her hand.Â

6. She wrote letters for dead or dying families.

7. She made the pie chart popular.

She gave a report titled "Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army" which used a pie chart to present information about causes of death for soldiers.Â

8. Queen Victoria was a fan of hers.

The Queen sent her a special brooch as a thank you for her work during the Crimean War.Â

10. She wrote a book that became an extremely important text for nurses.

Notes on Nursing: What It Is And What It Is Not was released in 1859.Â

9. Medical sanitation was very important to her.

In 1835, she worked with the British government to create laws for proper sanitation. Life expectancy in Britain increased by 20 years by 1935.

11. Her advice was taken very seriously by both sides in the American Civil War.

Both the Union and the Confederacy were concerned with maintaining proper ventilation in their hospitals.Â

12. She educated America's "first trained nurse."

Linda Richards attended the Nightingale School of Nursing in London and was personally advised by Nightingale.Â

13. She was the first woman inducted into the Order of Merit.

She was inducted into the group, which honored people who gave "exceptionally meritorious services ... towards the advancement of the Arts, Learning, Literature, and Science," in 1907. No woman was inducted for another 58 years.Â

14. Her birthday is celebrated on International Nurses Day.

Nurses around the world are honored on May 12.Â

15. You can hear a recording of her voice.

This recording was created by one of Thomas Edison's British Representatives in 1890.Â