Known as the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, born in Britain in 1820, was and remains an icon. Nightingale single-handedly changed the perception of nurses and the nursing profession, from her work during the Crimean War to her founding of the nursing school at St. Thomas Hospital in London, the first of its kind, and in her work as a social reformer, statistician, and prolific writer. The nursing school Nightingale started is now called the Florence Nightingale School, part of Kingβs College London. The Florence Nightingale Medal is the highest achievement in nursing, and International Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12, her birthday. Churches in Britain and America, a Dutch plane, a U.S. Naval Ship, and an asteroid bear her name, not to mention postage stamps all over the world. She died in 1910, at 90 years old.