Portal:Schools/Selected biography/8

Maria Montessori (August 31, 1870 – May 6, 1952) was an Italian physician, educator, philosopher, humanitarian and devout Catholic; she is best known for her philosophy and the Montessori method of education of children from birth to adolescence. Her educational method is in use today in a number of public as well as private schools throughout the world. Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle (Ancona), Italy. Montessori was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome La Sapienza Medical School. She became intrigued with trying to educate the "intellectually disabled" and the "uneducable" in Rome. The first "defective" children she taught not only passed state examinations for reading and writing, but had above-average scores.