Born: 31 August 1870, Italy
Died: 6 May 1952
Country most active: Italy
Also known as: NA
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was an eminent Italian physician and educator. Renowned for her profound philosophy of education and extensive contributions to scientific pedagogy, Montessori’s legacy remains influential.
Montessori initially enrolled in classes at an all-boys technical school to become an engineer. However, her aspirations soon took a different turn, leading her to the Sapienza University of Rome. After getting her medical degree in 1896—as the first Italian woman to do so—Montessori’s path changed a lot. She became an assistant doctor at the psychiatric clinic of the University of Rome, where she got interested in helping children with intellectual disabilities.
From 1899 to 1901, she led the State Orthophrenic School of Rome, where her new methods worked well. At the same time, from 1896 to 1906, Montessori was a hygiene professor at a women’s college in Rome. She also gave lectures about teaching at the University of Rome from 1900 to 1907. She had an anthropology role from 1904 to 1908 as well. During this time, she studied philosophy, psychology, and education.
In 1907, Montessori started the first Casa dei Bambini (“Children’s House”), a preschool for children aged three to six from Rome’s San Lorenzo area. She adapted her methods for mainstream kids. This success led to more Montessori schools. For the next 40 years, she traveled across Europe, India, and the United States, teaching through talks, writing, and training programs. In 1922, she became a government school inspector in Italy, a job she left in 1934 because of the rise of Fascism. After time in Spain and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), she settled in the Netherlands.
Her innovative educational approach continues to thrive, finding application in numerous public and private schools worldwide.
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educator, founder of the Montessori System of teaching children. She studied at the University of Rome and was the first woman in Italy to secure the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
She became interested in the training of feeble-minded children, and at the request of the Minister of Education delivered a series of lectures to teachers in Rome. The success of her work led her to turn her attention to the education of normal children, and in 1907 the first House of Childhood was opened, and was soon followed by others.
Dr. Montessori maintained her connection with these schools until 1911, when she turned her attention to experiments for extending her methods and applying them to older children. Her work attracted wide attention among laymen as well as among professional educators. The central principle of her system is the doctrine that the pupils should be allowed freedom to unfold themselves. The teacher ceases to be a dictator and becomes a supervisor and guide; the pupils have no other incentive to work than the joy of work without the stimulus of rewards and punishments; the impelling force comes from within and is no longer imposed from without; and concentration on attractive occupations leads to self-control without the intervention of restrictive discipline.