Famous 20th Century Nurses

Margaret Sanger was an American writer and sex educator. She is credited with popularizing the term birth control. A birth control activist, Sanger established the first birth control clinic in America. She also set up organizations that later became the well-known non-profit organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She also played a key role in legalizing contraception in the US.

Naomi Judd was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered as one-half of the country music duo, The Judds, which won nine Country Music Association awards and five Grammy Awards between 1980 and 1991. Naomi Judd stopped performing in 1991 due to health reasons. In 2022, she was made an inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Clara Barton was an American nurse best remembered for founding the American Red Cross. She is renowned for her civil rights advocacy and humanitarian work. She also played an important role in the Civil War, serving as a hospital nurse, a patent clerk, and a teacher. In 1973, Barton was made an inductee of the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Jennifer Worth was a British memoirist best remembered for her best-selling trilogy: Call the Midwife, Farewell to The East End, and Shadows of the Workhouse. The trilogy, which is about Jennifer Worth's experience as a nurse and midwife in East End of London during the 1950s, inspired the popular TV series, Call the Midwife. 

Edith Cavell was a British nurse best remembered for saving the lives of many soldiers from both camps without discrimination. She helped nearly 200 Allied soldiers escape from Belgium during World War I. Her decision to help both German and Allied soldiers without discrimination landed her in trouble; Edith Cavell was accused of treason and sentenced to death.

Rachel Robinson is an American retired professor and registered nurse. She is best known as the widow of the popular baseball player, Jackie Robinson. She is credited with founding the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which provides leadership and educational opportunities for minority students. Rachel Robinson has been portrayed in a couple of films.

Marie of Romania was a descendant of Queen Victoria and born as the Princess of Edinburgh, before she married King Ferdinand I and became the last queen of Romania. A visual artist and a patron of the Art Nouveau movement, she was also a skilled equestrian and driver.

Yetunde Price was the personal assistant and oldest half-sister of famous American tennis players, Serena and Venus Williams. She also worked as a nurse before being killed in a shooting on September 14, 2003, near a drug house in Compton, California. It was later confirmed that Yetunde Price was an innocent, ill-fated victim.

Mimi Smith was a British nurse best remembered as the parental guardian and maternal aunt of the popular English musician John Lennon. She played an important role in the upbringing of John Lennon. Mimi Smith has been portrayed in several films, including Birth of the Beatles, In His Life: The John Lennon Story, and John and Yoko: A Love Story.

An unwed mother in her late teens, Philomena Lee was forced to hand over her son to Irish nuns, who then sold her off to be adopted by an American Catholic family. Author Martin Sixsmith’s book on Philomena’s journey, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, was later made into an Oscar-nominated film.

Kristen Gilbert is an American serial killer who worked as a nurse. She was convicted of two attempted murders and four murders of patients admitted to the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts. Nicknamed The Angel of Death, Kristen Gilbert was found guilty of inducing cardiac arrest in patients at the hospital.

Initially a journalist, Nancy Wake earned the nickname The White Mouse for her skilful spying on Germans. Working under the alias Helene for the SOE, the stiletto-wearing socialite earned respect for her 500 km bicycle ride to report a situation to London, while being chased by the Nazis.

Agnes von Kurowsky was an American nurse who served during the First World War in an American National Red Cross hospital in Milan. She is credited with inspiring Ernest Hemingway's character Catherine Barkley in his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. Agnes von Kurowsky and Ernest Hemingway's love story was portrayed in the 1996 movie In Love and War.

Bonnie Nettles was an American registered nurse best remembered for co-founding the Heaven's Gate new religious movement alongside  Marshall Applewhite. Nettles died of cancer in 1985, 12 years before the religious group's mass suicide in 1997. Bonnie Nettles was one of the two main leaders of the group.

Suze Randall is an English photographer, model, and pornographer. Randall worked as a staff photographer for Hustler and Playboy, becoming the first woman staff photographer for both the publications. In 1980, she directed a pornographic film titled Kiss and Tell, becoming one of the earliest woman porn film directors. Suze Randall has also modeled for magazines like Hustler and Playboy.

Derek Longmuir is a Scottish retired drummer. He is best known for co-founding the pop rock band, Bay City Rollers. Longmuir retired from music in the 1980s and started training as a nurse. He then went on to work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In 2000, Longmuir pleaded guilty for possessing child pornography and was sentenced to 300 hours' community service.

Lillian Wald was an American nurse, author, and humanitarian. She is credited with establishing the Henry Street Settlement, a not-for-profit social service agency in New York City. After founding the agency, Lillian Wald became an activist and fought for the rights of minorities and women. She also supported racial integration and campaigned for suffrage.  

Constance Kent was an English woman who murdered her half-brother, Francis Saville Kent. She was only 16 years old when she killed her three-year-old half-brother. The murder inspired several works of art, including films and novels.

Austrian mountaineer and climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner scripted history as the 2nd woman to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders of the world and the 1st woman to do so without supplemental oxygen. The 2012 National Geographic Explorer of the Year also scaled many peaks with her then-husband, German mountaineer Ralf Dujmovits.

Hildegard Peplau was an American nurse best remembered for creating the middle-range nursing theory, which helped revolutionize the scholarly work in the field of nursing. She was the first nurse to publish her nursing theory since Florence Nightingale. Hildegard Peplau's work paved the way for humane treatment of people with personality and behavior disorders.

Bessie Lillian Carter was an American nurse best remembered as the mother of Jimmy Carter, who served as the 39th president of the USA. She is also remembered for her immense contributions to nursing in Georgia. Lillian Gordy Carter also served in India as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Susan Travers was a British ambulance driver and nurse. She is best remembered for her service in the French Red Cross during World War II. She also played an important role during the First Indochina War, serving in French Indochina.

Dorothea Orem was an American nursing theorist. She is best remembered for creating the self-care deficit nursing theory, which is also called the Orem's Model of Nursing. Developed between 1959 and 2001, the theory is often used in primary care and rehabilitation settings, where the patient is taught to be independent.

Madeleine Leininger was an American nursing professor and nursing theorist. She is credited with developing the concept of transcultural nursing. Madeleine Leininger's contributions to nursing theory were honored by the American Academy of Nursing with a Living Legend award in 1998.

Mary Breckinridge was an American nurse midwife best remembered for founding the Frontier Nursing Service, which educates nurse-midwives and provides healthcare services to the rural population. In 1995, Mary Breckinridge was made an inductee of the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Mamie Johnson was an American baseball player and the first female pitcher to take part in the Negro leagues. She was also one of the three women to play in the Negro leagues. Mamie Johnson's life and career have inspired a couple of books, namely A Strong Right Arm and Mamie on the Mound.