Theoretical Foundation in Nursing

Chapter 8
Martha Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings
History and Background
 Martha Elizabeth Rogers was born on May 12, 1914 in
Dallas, Texas. She finished her nursing diploma from
Knoxville General Hospital of Nursing in 1936 and her
Bachelor of Science degree from George Peabody College
in Nashville Tennessee. She is also a graduate of Masters of
Art in Public Health Nursing Supervision from Teacher’s
College, Columbia University and Doctor of Science from
John Hopkins University.
 Rogers practiced her nursing initially ii rural public health
nursing in Michigan and in visiting nurse supervision,
education, and practice in Connecticut. She later
established the Visiting Nurse Service of Phoenix, Arizona.
 She was a professor and head of the Division of Nursing at
New York University for 21 years (1945-1975). She became
Professor Emerita in 1979, the title which she held until her
death on March 13, 1994.
 Rogers published three books and more than 200 articles.
Her books are:
1. Theoretical Basis of Nursing, 1970
2. Nursing Science and an Art: A Prospective, 1988
3. Nursing Science of Unitary Irreducible Unitary Human
Beings, 1990
 Her colleagues consider Rogers as one of the most original
thinkers in Nursing for the way she synthesized and re-
synthesized knowledge into “an entirely new system of
thought”.