This document discusses the history and professionalization of nursing. It describes how nursing has evolved from an empirical practice focused on techniques to a discipline with its own theoretical framework and logical methodology, exemplified by the nursing process and nursing diagnoses. Key factors in nursing's professionalization include the establishment of professional organizations, changes to educational programs, and legal regulations governing education and practice. The roles and contributions of important nursing researchers and educators from the 1950s onward helped establish nursing as a distinct discipline.