Rachel Carson
author and even better scientist
Backround
Rachel Carson was born May 27, 1907. She was born in a small town in Springdale, Pennsylvania. She grew up on a 65 acre farm where she observed and began writing stories about animals. At age 10 she had already published her first story. She was also interested in reading about the natural world, particularly the ocean. In 1926, she went to the Pennsylvania college for women where she studied biology. She then graduated at the top of her class and went on to study zoology and genetics at John Hopkins University.
Publications
Rachel Carson's most well known book is Silent Spring, published on September 27, 1962. The book described the harmful effects of pesticides on the environment, and is widely credited with helping launch environmental awareness which was a political movement to address environmental issues on the earth. She also published Under the Sea-Wind, The Sea Around us, and The Edge of the Sea. These books where about oceanography and made Carson a well known naturalist and Science writer for the public.
What did she study?
Rachel Carson made the public aware on how bad our ecosystem was. She wrote about how much pollution, mainly pesticides and fertilizer, our environment could sustain and the dangers pollution could have on our environment. Carson stood behind her warnings of the consequences of indiscriminate pesticide use despite the threat of lawsuits from the chemical industry and accusations that she engaged in “emotionalism” and “gross distortion.” Carson wanted to make the world a cleaner and safer place, by doing this she gave us some of the most influential environmental writing ever published.
Scientific Importance Today
Carson helped us be more aware of our environment and our world around us. Her books helped ban DDT, which is one of the most dangerous pesticides, and other dangerous chemicals that harm the environment. Rachel Carson died of cancer on April 14, 1964. She is remembered as an early environmental activist who worked to preserve the world for future generations.