-
Maria Tecia Artemesia Montessori was born August 31, 1870 in Chavarralle, Ancona Province, Italy, to Alessandro Montessori and Renilde Stoppani.
-
Maria attended secondary school at Regia Scuola Tecnica Michelangelo Buonarroti from 1883 to 1886. She studied Italian, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, accounting, history, geography, and sciences. Most of these subjects were only studied by boys her age. She graduated with good grades and excellent examination marks.
-
From 1886 to 1890 Montessori studied Italian, mathematics, history, geography, geometric and ornate drawing, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and two foreign languages at Regio Istituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci. She had wanted to pursue engineering, a field dominated by men, but she ultimately chose to go to medical school, another male dominated field which her father opposed.
-
In 1890, at age 20, Montessori graduated from Regio Istituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci with a certificate in physics-mathematics.
-
In 1890 Maria enrolled at the University of Rome in a degree course in natural sciences, despite being discouraged by Guido Baccelli, a professor of clinical medicine at the university.
-
In 1892 Maria graduated from the University of Rome with her diploma di licenza.
-
In 1863, Montessori studied additional courses in Italian and Latin, after receiving her diploma di licenza, in order to be accepted into the medical program at the University of Rome.
-
Once accepted into the medical program, she was harassed by her male classmates because she was the only female student in the program. Because she was a woman, it was deemed inappropriate for her to be allowed in a class with men while dissecting cadavers (this was because the bodies were naked) so she had to perform her dissections on her own, after hours. She resorted to smoking tobacco to mask the scent of formaldehyde.
-
In 1894, her first year of medical school, Maria won an academic prize.
-
In 1895, after two years of study, Maria was able to secure a position as a hospital assistant, gaining invaluable clinical experience.
-
In 1896, Montessori graduated from the University of Rome with her Doctor of Medicine, one of the first women of her time to do so.
-
In 1896, after graduating from the University of Rome, Maria began working in the hospital at the University of Rome as an assistant while also starting a private practice. During this time, Montessori also began visiting asylums all over Rome, observing mentally disabled children. This led her to study books written by French doctors Jean Marc Gaspard Itard and Edouard Seguin, who worked with disabled children.
-
In 1897, Montessori had her theses for her Doctor of Medicine published in the journal Policlinico.
-
In 1897, Montessori audited courses in pedagogy at the University of Rome. During this time, she decided to focus on mentally disabled children and read all major works in educational philosophy over the past 200 years.
-
On March 31, 1898, Montessori gave birth to a son, Mario Montessori. Mario was her only child. Giuseppe Montesano was the father and a fellow doctor. Montessori and Montesano did not marry as Montessori would have been expected to give up her career.
-
In 1899, Maria attended women's congress in London and was received by Queen Victoria. Beginning in 1900, Montessori began working at the psychiatric clinic in Rome. She was then appointed director of the Orthophrenic School. In 1901 she began her second degree in education, experimental psychology, and anthropology at the University of Rome. During the time she was obtaining her second degree, she visited elementary schools to do anthropological research.
-
From 1904-1908, Maria was invited to lecture in anthropology and biology at the University of Rome in the School of Education. She used her lectures to incorporate her clinical observations of student's in Rome's elementary schools. She used these lectures as the basis of her book, Pedagogical Anthropology, which she published in 1910.
-
On January 6, 1907, Montessori opened the first Children's House (Casa dei Bambini) in the San Lorenzo district of Rome.
-
In 1911, Montessori decided to resign from her teaching position at the University of Rome as well as giving up her private practice so she can focus entirely on teaching.
-
In 1913 the Montessori Educational Association was founded in the United States. Its membership includes Alexander Graham Bell, his wife, Mabel Bell, S.S. McClure, and President Wilson's daughter, Margaret Woodrow Wilson.
-
In 1916, Montessori moved to Barcelona at the invitation of the city government. She published her fourth book, The Advanced Montessori Method.
-
In 1925 Mario Montessori takes the Montessori training course and received his Montessori Diploma.
-
In 1936, Montessori fled Barcelona for England, and then Amsterdam, after General Franco's coup. She and her son, Mario, are confined to the compound of the Theosophical Society when Italy enters World War II on the side of the Germans. She finally returns to Europe in 1946 when the war is over.
-
In 1949, Montessori is nominated for her first Nobel Peace Prize. She is nominated again in 1950 and 1951.
-
In 1950, in honor of Montessori's 80th birthday, the International Conference in Amsterdam is held.
-
Montessori held her last training course in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1951. Maria died May 6, 1952, in Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands where she is buried at the local Catholic cemetary