Dr. Maria Montessori was one the great educational minds of this century. Her background as a physician and her extensive academic credentials gave her a unique perspective on the needs of young children. Her initial insights developed while working with slum children in Rome during the early part of the twentieth century have deeply influenced the world of early childhood education. Many of the then radical tenets that she propounded are now widely accepted practices in mainstream education. She came to India in 1939 at the invitation of Rukmini Devi and Dr. G. S. Arundale. They persuaded her to run a teachers training programme in the Adyar campus of the Theosophical Society. Interned in India during World War II, she continued her work with children and adults here for nearly ten years. Her definitive work, The Absorbent Mind, was written while she was lecturing in Ahmedabad.