“Florence Nightingale”

Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was a nurse who

contributed to developing and shaping the modern nursing practice and has
set examples for nurses who are standards for today’s profession.
Nightingale is the first nurse theorist well-known for developing the
Environmental Theory that revolutionized nursing practices to create
sanitary conditions for patients to get care. She is recognized as the
founder of modern nursing. During the Crimean War, she tended to
wounded soldiers at night and was known as “The Lady with the Lamp.” 
.

“Virginia Avenel Henderson”

Virginia Avenel Henderson (November 30, 1897 – March 19, 1996) was a

nurse, theorist, and author known for her Need Theory and defining
nursing as: “The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick
or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its
recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the
necessary strength, will or knowledge.” Henderson is also known as “The
First Lady of Nursing,” “The Nightingale of Modern Nursing,”
“Modern-Day Mother of Nursing,” and “The 20th Century Florence
Nightingale.”
 “Faye Glenn Abdellah”

Faye Glenn Abdellah (March 13, 1919 – present) is a nursing research

pioneer who developed the “Twenty-One Nursing Problems.” Her
nursing model was progressive for the time in that it refers to a nursing
diagnosis during a time in which nurses were taught that diagnoses were
not part of their role in health care. She was the first nurse officer to rank a
two-star rear admiral, the first nurse, and the first woman to serve as a
Deputy Surgeon General.
 “Dorothea Elizabeth Orem”

Dorothea Elizabeth Orem (July 15, 1914 – June 22, 2007) was one of
America’s foremost nursing theorists who developed the Self-Care Deficit
Nursing Theory, also known as the Orem Model of Nursing. Her theory
defined Nursing as “The act of assisting others in the provision and
management of self-care to maintain or improve human functioning at the
home level of effectiveness.” It focuses on each individual’s ability to
perform self-care, defined as “the practice of activities that individuals
initiate and perform on their own behalf in maintaining life, health, and well-
being.”
 “Martha Elizabeth Rogers”

Martha Elizabeth Rogers (May 12, 1914 – March 13, 1994) was an

American nurse, researcher, theorist, and author widely known for
developing the Science of Unitary Human Beings and her landmark
book, An Introduction the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. She believes that a
patient can never be separated from their environment when addressing
health and treatment. Her knowledge about the coexistence of the human
and his or her environment contributed a lot in changing toward better
health.
 “Hildegard Elizabeth Peplau”

Hildegard Elizabeth Peplau (September 1, 1909 – March 17, 1999) was

an American nurse who is the only one to serve the American Nurses
Association (ANA) as Executive Director and later as President. She
became the first published nursing theorist since Florence Nightingale.
Peplau was well-known for her Theory of Interpersonal Relations, which
helped to revolutionize nurses’ scholarly work. Her achievements are
valued by nurses worldwide and became known to many as the “Mother
of Psychiatric Nursing” and the “Nurse of the Century.” 
 “Imogene Martina King”
Imogene Martina King (January 30, 1923 – December 24, 2007) was one
of the pioneers and most sought nursing theorists for her Theory of Goal
Attainment, which she developed in the early 1960s. Her work is being
taught to thousands of nursing students worldwide and is implemented in
various service settings. As a recognized global leader, King truly made a
positive difference for the nursing profession with her significant impact on
nursing’s scientific base. She made an enduring impact on nursing
education, practice, and research while serving as a consummate, active
leader in professional nursing.
 “Nola J. Pender”

Nola J. Pender (1941– present) is a nursing theorist who developed

the Health Promotion Model in 1982. She is also an author and a
professor emeritus of nursing at the University of Michigan. She started
studying health-promoting behavior in the mid-1970s and first published the
Health Promotion Model in 1982. Her Health Promotion Model indicates
preventative health measures and describes nurses’ critical function in
helping patients prevent illness by self-care and bold alternatives. Pender
has been named a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing.
 “Madeleine Leininger “

Madeleine Leininger (July 13, 1925 – August 10, 2012) was an

internationally known educator, author, theorist, administrator, researcher,
consultant, public speaker, and the developer of the concept
of transcultural nursing that has a great impact on how to deal
with patients of different culture and cultural background. She is a Certified
Transcultural Nurse, a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing in Australia,
and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Her theory is now a
nursing discipline that is an integral part of how nurses practice in the
healthcare field today.
 “Dorothy E. Johnson”

Dorothy E. Johnson (August 21, 1919 – February 1999) was one of the

greatest nursing theorists who developed the “Behavioral System Model.”
Her theory of nursing defines nursing as “an external regulatory force which
acts to preserve the organization and integration of the patients’ behaviors
at an optimum level under those conditions in which the behavior
constitutes a threat to the physical or social health, or in which illness is
found.”