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Not only was she a nurse of international reputation she was also a mathematician statistician. In 1860 for her contribution to Army statistics and comparative hospital statistics Florence Nightingale became the first woman to be elected a fellow of the Statistical Society. Her writings on hospital planning and organization had a profound effect in England and across the world. She was the first person in the Western world to introduce statistics into public health. She also introduced the pie chart so useful in making presentations! In 1907 she became the first woman to receive the British Order of Merit.
She was a prolific writer of letters and these give a sense of the times in which she worked. The text of some of her letters are available at the Clendening History of Medicine Library at the University of Kansas.