Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori (1870–1952) was an Italian physician and educator, founder of the educational method that bears her name. One of the first women to graduate in medicine in Italy, she worked with children with disabilities in Rome and lectured on pedagogical anthropology at the University of Rome. In 1907 she opened her first Casa dei Bambini, a school for young children in a working-class district, where she developed methods based on observation, prepared materials and the child's freedom to learn independently. Her books, beginning with The Montessori Method, spread her ideas around the world.