Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, came to Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, from her native England during the Crimean War, treated and cared for soldiers wounded in the war at the Selimiye Barracks in 1854, trained many nurses in the meantime, brought prestige to the nursing profession and became an icon both in England and in Victorian culture. She was named "Lamp Woman" because she took care of wounded soldiers day and night in Istanbul.
She laid the foundations of modern nursing
In 1860, after the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale founded her own nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London, laying the foundations of the professional nursing profession.
Nightingale's school, the first modern civilian nursing school in the world, is now part of King's College London. New nurses swear an oath of allegiance to their profession before taking up their duties with the Nightingale Oath, named after her.
In 1907, Nightingale became the first woman to receive the Order of Merit. Her birthday, May 12, is celebrated around the world as Nurses' Day.