Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in Italy. A few years later her family moved to Rome, where she attended school. From this age on, she wanted to study and work in male-dominated fields like engineering and medicine. Although she went through many troubles, she completed her studies at the University of Rome and became one of Italy’s first female doctors in 1896. As a doctor she focused on people and children experiencing poverty. Later, she volunteered at a psychiatric clinic, which made her focus on children with mental illnesses and learning disabilities.

Maria Montessori was an advocate for both women’s rights and disadvantaged children during her life. After spending some time studying pedagogy and new educational methods, she opened “Casa dei Bambini” (Children’s House), which was a full-time daycare for the children of worker families. During this time, she developed a new form of education: the Montessori method. This method is based on the observation, that children are able to learn by themselves when provided with materials designed to support their natural development.

Her approach quickly spread all over Europa and America, but the development stopped with the uprising of fascism in Europe. Both Mussolini in Italy and the Nazis in Germany closed institutions, which used the Montessori method. In 1939, Maria Montessori travelled to India to escape the approaching Second World War. Although she was detained in India because of her Italian citizenship, she managed to spread her ideas and train teachers together with her son, Mario Montessori.

She returned to Europe in 1949 and lived in the Netherlands for the rest of her life. Maria Montessori continued to give lectures on her ideas and observations. Additionally, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. In 1952, she died in the Netherlands at the age of 81.

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