Hi ,
Tomorrow is the 114th anniversary of the death of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing whose work in caring for ill and injured soldiers during the Crimean War led to her gaining the nickname "the Lady with the Lamp".
What you might not realise is that Nightingale was also a pioneering statistician, and in 1858, was recognised as the first female Fellow of the (British) Royal Statistical Society.
Nightingale's nursing skills (combined with her courage and determination) gave her the ability to help the sick. Yet, there is
only so much even the most capable nurse can do.
It was by taking what she had learned through her work on the battlefield and combining it with her statistical abilities, however, that Nightingale was able to save the most lives.
Nightingale used statistics to
demonstrate to British army leaders the need for sanitation reform, which by her estimates ultimately "saved the lives of 729 soldiers and kept 5,184 men from being bedridden each year" (Effective Data Storytelling, p.100).
There's no shortage of stories telling of the potential for data and AI to do harm to our world, but they also have the potential to do a lot of
good.
Imagine what the world could be like if we all followed the lead of Florence Nightingale and chose the latter.
Talk again soon,
Dr
Genevieve.
