Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian physician, educator, philosopher, humanitarian and devout Catholic. She is best known for her philosophy and the Montessori method of education of children from birth to adolescence. Her educational method is in use today in a number of public as well as private schools throughout the world. She was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome La Sapienza Medical School. She was a member of the University's Psychiatric Clinic and became intrigued with trying to educate the "mentally retarded" and the "uneducable" in Rome. In 1907, she started a school for children in a housing project in Rome. She was focused on teaching the students ways to develop their own skills at a pace they set, which was a principle Montessori called "spontaneous self-development". The success of this school sparked the opening of many more, and a worldwide interest in Montessori's methods of education. Her works include: The Montessori Method (1912), My System of Education (1915), Spontaneous Activity in Education (1917) and Peace and Education (1932).