Mary Baker Eddy was 44 years old when she made the discovery that changed her life from a farm girl to one of the most powerful women of her day. It was 1866, and she fell on ice in Lynn and knocked unconscious. While her doctors assumed that she was going to die, she was healed after a few days of reading her Bible. Motivated to share her revelation and heal others, she started with her niece as her first patient. She named her innovative ideas “Christian Science” and fast became a popular but controversial speaker about the link between spirituality and health. At the age of 54, Baker Eddy published “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”. It was an immediate best-seller, with sales of over 10 million copies, but she rewrote it 432 times, compulsively revisiting the book until her last month. Disappointed that existing Christian churches would not embrace her discovery, she started her own “Church of Christ, Scientist,” which today has branches around the world. In 1902 she hosted an international conference of over 15,000 participants in Boston. Despite her tremendous success, she was paranoid and distrusted her own followers. Read more...

Zakrzewska was born to Polish immigrant parents in Berlin, Germany. She was an extraordinarily brilliant child, and after leaving school at 13, she accompanied her mother to treat patients and learn to be a midwife. After repeating rejections, she enrolled in the school for midwives at the Charité Hospital in Berlin. She graduated at 22 years old and was nominated to the chief midwife with the rank as a college professor, the first woman to hold the position. Zakrzewska kept her position for only six months before she was forced to resign due to complaints of a female’s idea in this position. In 1853, she immigrated to the United States, hoping to find better opportunities to practice medicine as a woman. When she was 27 years old, she graduated from Medical School Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to NYC to open her practice. She also assisted Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (the first woman physician in the US) to found the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and worked there as a physician and a manager. Two years later, Zakrzewska accepted the position of a resident physician and professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children at the New England Female Medical College in Boston. Three years later, she resigned after realizing that the college founder was only interested in training midwives and not female doctors. That same year in 1862, Zakrzewska founded the New England Hospital for Women and Children, an institute that provided not only clinical care but also training for female nurses and physicians. She worked in several positions in the hospital, as well as in her private practice. Over the years, the hospital expanded to contain 8 buildings and a professional nursing school. Zakrzewska died in her home 3 years after she retired. Read more...