Rachel Carson was a marine biologist and author best known for her book Silent Spring.
Carson was born in 1907 and grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. She studied biology at the University of Michigan and Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory. After college, she worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Carson wrote several articles and books about the ocean and marine life before Silent Spring, including The Sea Around Us in 1951 and The Edge of the Sea in 1955.
Silent Spring was published in 1962 and raised awareness about the harmful effects of DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and other pesticides on wildlife, especially birds. It also pointed to the use of pesticides as a contributor to cancer rates among humans.
The book was met with criticism from the chemical industry but praised by many scientists—including Rachel Carson herself who said “this is what I have been warning against.” In 1980, she received posthumous recognition when President Jimmy Carter presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work on environmental issues like preserving wilderness areas or cleaning up polluted waterways like Lake Erie where it had been used as a dumping ground for toxic waste like PCBs.
