Catherine Corless has always been interested in history. She’s from Tuam in the west of Ireland, and after her children had grown up, she enrolled in history classes. As a little girl, she had always been aware of the local Mother and Baby Home – a Catholic institution for unmarried mothers and their children. When she started digging, she couldn’t find much public information about the place, but then she unearthed a shocking statistic – almost 800 children had died in that home, but their bodies were missing. Catherine began tirelessly investigating. Her work would thrust her into the spotlight and expose a national scandal in Ireland. (Photo credit: AP.)