Rachel Louise Carson was born on the 27th of May in Pittsburgh and died in Silver Spring in the Maryland in 1964. She was a marine biologist, an ecologist activist, and one of the most important leading figures in the US. She marked the history of her country.
Since an early age Rachel Carson was passionate about the natural world. She will be a marine biologist. At the very beginning Carson wanted to become a writer but she changed for biology. She began her studies at the Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory, the oldest one in the country. At the aged of 25, she got a master of zoology at the Johns-Hopkins University.
In the 30’s she started to write for different publications like the “U.S. fish and wildlife” service and the “U.S Bureau of Fisheries” where she took a position as aquatic biologist. Her last three years has been as editor in chief of the services of publications.
At 34 she published her first book called “Under the Sea-Wind” and ten years later “The Sea Around Us” the work of years of research and expedition. In 1951 the book won the “National Book Award” in the documentary category, he even stayed 32 weeks on the ranking of bestseller from the “New York Times” and has been translated in more than 30 languages.
She quit her job in 1951 at the U.S Fish and Wildlife service to spend all of her time writing. She published her last book of the Sea Trilogy “The Edge of the Sea”, which mixed scientific knowledge and poetry.
“If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.”
Speech of thanks Rachel Carson National Book Awards, 1952.
In the 60’s she became an ardent critic of the misuse of pesticides. At the same time the impact of pesticide on the environment started to be documented. At 55 years old, her commitment to the natural world gave birth to her most famous book, “Silent Spring”.
Silent Spring is the result of 4 years of research in which she describes Yhow DDT (a powerful pesticide) works and how it affects the environment and human’s health. It is said that her book “Silent Spring”, which came out with a bang in September 1962, was, after “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, the one that provoked a major questioning of American society.
“Silent Spring altered the balance of power in the world. No one since would be able to sell pollution as the necessary underside of progress so easily or uncritically.”
H. Patricia Hynes Professor at the University School of Public Health.
Rachel Crarson died on the 14th of April at the aged of 58 on 1964 due to a breast cancer. On January 31, 1972, the use of DDT was banned in the United States. On June 9, 1980, Rachel Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The highest civilian distinction in the United States.
Sources:
- https://www.nrdc.org/stories/story-silent-spring
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rachel-Carson
- https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/la-marche-des-sciences/rachel-carson-celle-qui-transforma-lamerique
- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/rachel-carson-ddt-malaria-retro-report.html?searchResultPosition=9
