Happy birthday, educator Maria Montessori

Italy's 1000-lire bill honors Dr. Maria Montessori.

It is the birthday of Italian educator Maria Montessori (1870), who developed an early childhood educational system that mirrors natural human development and emphasizes hands-on discovery, uninterrupted blocks of work time, and use of specialized educational materials. She was a physician, and she developed her ideas about education while working with mentally disabled children in Rome. Montessori wrote extensively about education, beginning in 1909.

Happy birthday, Mary (Frankenstein) Shelley

It is the birthday of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797), who created one of the most beloved monsters of all time in her gothic novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818). Shelley also wrote Mathilda (1959), a story of incest and suicide. She also edited the works of her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Here is the story of how Frankenstein got written, delightfully told by Jack Perkins.

Happy birthday, Edward Carpenter

It is the birthday of English Socialist poet Edward Carpenter (1844), who is best remembered for his philosophical treatise Civilization, Its Cause and Cure (1891), in which he advances the idea that civilization is a disease that human societies go through before expiring. He proposed that humanity seek a closer association with the land and inner being to survive. He was instrumental in establishing the socialist Fabian Society in England. Carpenter also was an early gay activist. He wrote The Intermediate Sex (1908). He influenced D.H. Lawrence and inspired E.M. Forster's novel Maurice (1971).

Happy birthday, Roger Tory Peterson

Photograph of Roger Tory Peterson by Alfred Eisenstadt

It is the birthday of ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson (1908), who created the first modern field guide with his first book, A Field Guide to the Birds (1934). Inspired by his seventh-grade teacher, an ardent birding enthusiast, Peterson studied, painted and photographed birds throughout his life. Peterson guides to plants and animals are considered essential for those pursuing study of the natural world. He is credited with setting the stage for the worldwide environmental movement.