The founder of modern nursing, the "lady with the lamp" made the rounds at night among wounded soldiers in the Crimean War (1853-1856).  Hers was not simply the courage to tend the wounded in battlefield hospitals.  Florence Nightingale also forged a new profession and professional path for women -- one that her parents were none-too-happy about.   Born to a wealthy British family who expected her to marry well and bear children, she refused to be circumscribed by privilege or a desire for comfort.  Well educated, well traveled, and prayerful, she saw herself called to the service of others. She was inspired by the healing work of Lutheran deaconesses at Kaiserwerth am Rhein, a German hospital, and in 1850 decided to train with them.  By 1854, she was on the battlefield in Crimea, working industriously to improve atrocious sanitary and medical conditions for wounded soldiers.  One study credits her with reducing the mortality rate of the wounded from 42% to 2%.
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During her long and fruitful life, Florence Nightingale ended up remaking -- or making -- the modern profession of nursing.  Not only did she serve as battlefield nurse and supervisor of many key organizations, Nightingale had mathematical gifts.  She was a prodigious analyzer of data and a prolific writer, who churned out report after report on hygiene, health, and the science of nursing.  Many of these she produced from home in bed, because she contracted "Crimean Fever" at age 38, which kept her housebound.  Nightingale was responsible for establishing the first professional school of nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in London.  She had the courage to follow a call beyond a life of privilege.