The life and work of one of England's most influential women of the 1800s is celebrated here. You'll learn that her most famous accomplishment -- nursing soldiers during the Crimean War -- was only part of a career spanning half a century. Nightingale did everything from raising the image of the British soldier (from a brawling lowlife to a heroic working man) to making nursing a respectable profession. Before the "Lady with the Lamp," nursing was seen as a job fit only for prostitutes.

In 1896, Nightingale "retired to her bed," but didn't slow down. She continued to write on public health. Much of her advice is still valid today. When she died in 1910 at the age of 90, she had become so reclusive that the general public assumed she was already dead.