Florence Nightingale - Statistician

Call me Flo - If you dare.

    Most people in your age and in mine know me as a nurse.  Sure, I saved a few lives, and I worked hard during the Crimean war.  I was even able to persuade some other women to join me in that horrible place, helping soldiers who were dying for their countries' follies.  But to persuade the men who were sending them over there I had to use logic and mathematics.  I'm not saying that our politicians were stupid - many others have said that much more eloquently than I can.  The Lords of Parliament were sitting there, comfortable in their London homes and country estates; many of them were even making lots of money from the war.  I had to show them that it was logical to save lives -- if for no other reason than so they could be used again, and for this I invented the Polar Area Diagram (in your time you call it the "Pie Chart").  Pie Charts are excellent for showing statistics in an easy way for people to understand.  My statistics saved many more lives than I ever could.

You call me "The Lady with the Lamp." I should be known as "The Lady with the Stats!"

Here is a PowerPoint presentation about my life, done by my friend, Carol Tuttle-Pilling. 
See it in PowerPoint if you have it on your computer, or view it on the web.

In your day, I am credited with inventing the pie chart, which is used to demonstrate mathematical concepts.  I called it a polar area diagram. Take a look at one I made. 

Click here to see my mathematical accomplishments:

"I think one's feelings waste themselves in
words. They ought all to be distilled into
actions and into actions which bring results."

    Despite the fact that I said that, I like this World Wide Web idea.  It gives the disenfranchised a forum, and no one in my day or in yours is more disenfranchised than women.  Besides, it doesn't take much writing to get your idea across if you can show pictures, diagrams, and charts.  Click here for a diagram made with Inspiration about my life.

    Sure, I'm religious, but that doesn't make me a wimp.  I believe in no nonsense, standing up for what is right, and doing God's will.  I never married because there were no men in my day who could allow me to do what I did - and there are probably very few men who can put up with a strong woman in your day either, unfortunately. 

"till a married woman can be in possession
of her own property there can be no love or justice"

Any Questions?  Email me