Dr Maria Montessori, 1870-1952, was the first woman in Italy to graduate as a doctor of medicine. Postgraduate studies in philosophy, psychology, psychiatry and anthropology followed and at the age of 28, Dr Maria Montessori was invited to take over the welfare of children who were considered uneducable in a Rome hospital. When Dr Montessori secretly presented the children at the public examinations for primary certificates, they all passed. Drawing on her experience, Dr Montessori concluded that if children with learning difficulties could achieve academic levels expected in the mainstream, then there had to be something wrong with the educational process in the mainstream.
In 1907 Maria Montessori was given the opportunity to test and extend her methods with children aged three to seven years old in a social housing project in Rome. So began the first ‘Casa dei Bambini’ or ‘Children’s House’. The reputation of her methods spread internationally and Dr Montessori was nominated on three occasions for the Nobel Peace Prize (1949, 1950 & 1951) for her contribution towards peace through education and philosophy. Today Montessori schools can be found all over the world.
Among people that Montessori worked with were: Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Anna Freud, Alexander Graham-Bell, and Rabindraneth Tagore. 21st Century Montessori graduates include Google Founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; the Wikipedia Founder, Jimmy Wales; Will Wright, Maxis/Electronic Arts Founder and Jeff Bezos, the Founder of Amazon.