GREAT WOMAN OF MATHEMATICS: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, 1820-1910. Best known as a nurse who helped take the role of nurse from a cultural caretaker to a medical profession in its own right, Florence Nightingale was also a mathematical trailblazer. She was directly responsible for 1/5 
many changes in hospital care during the Crimean War. She documented the improvement in mortality rates and health outcomes caused by standardizing sanitation practices, among many other important changes that professionalized nursing. Nightingale did more than just invent 2/5
descriptive statistics. She also developed important methods for data visualization and presentation, helping make statistics accessible to a wider audience. Her polar area chart, also known as a coxcomb, was an early mathematically sound presentation of statistical data-- 3/5
and it's quite beautiful, too! Nightingale was one of many #GWOM whose contributions were overlooked and minimized in eras when women's opportunities were limited, but her importance to statistical mathematics was massive. Her influence as a trailblazer in the practice of 4/5
collecting hard data and using statistics to analyze and document medical outcomes was a game-changer in the cause of evidence-based medicine. Her influence as both a mathematician and practitioner of medicine continues to resonate today. 5/5
