Rachel
Carson, was
born in 1907 in the United States of America. She received her
master's degree in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932.
Carson worked as an instructor at the University of Maryland from
1931 until 1936. In 1936 she joined the United States Department of
Fish and Wildlife where she worked as an aquatic biologist until
1952.
Carson was most noted for her writings in the area of ecological studies. While at the Fish and Wildlife Department, she produced two monographs, "Food from the Sea: Fish and Shellfish of New England" (1943) and "Food from the Sea" Fish and Shellfish of the South Atlantic" (1944). The monographs were written during World War II and were aimed at finding new sources of food for human consumption. These booklets contained descriptions of the habitats, behaviors, and anatomy of more than twenty varieties of shellfish and fish.
Carson's first book, published in 1941, was titled Under the Sea Wind - A Naturalist's Picture of Ocean Life. This first book was an in-depth study of the lives and habits of marine species and served to popularize marine studies. Following the success of Under the Sea wind, Carson wrote two additional books about aquatic life: The Sea Around Us (published in 1951) and The Edge of the Sea (published in 1955). Her books became best sellers because they removed the stiff formal language of science and replaced it with a more lyrical prose style of writing.
Carson's last book, published in 1962, was called The Silent Spring. In this book, Carson put forth her philosophy that humans and nature are interdependent, that they depend upon each other. Through a carefully constructed scientific argument, she pointed out that human industrial activity can and does cause permanent damage to the Earth's ecosystems. Carson's research focused on the indiscriminate spraying of pesticides like DDT. She demonstrated how toxins, once in the food chain can have severe, unpredicted, and far reaching ecological consequences. As a result of her writing, DDT was banned as an insecticide in the United States of America and in most countries of the world.
Rachel Carson died two years after the publication of the Silent Spring of cancer, she was 56 years old.
References
Anticaglia, E. (1975). Twelve American Women. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
Bonta, M.M. (1991). Women in the Field: America's Pioneering Women Naturalists. College Station, TX: Texas A & M Press.
Briggs, S. (1972). A Decade after Silent Spring. Friends Journal. 1, 148-149.
Brooks, P. (1972). The House of Life: Rachel Carson at Work. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Carson, R. The Edge of the Sea. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Carson, R. (1950). The Sea Around Us. New York: Oxford University Press.
Carson, R. (1962). Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Carson, R. (1941). Under the Sea Wing. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kass-Simon, G., & Farnes, P. (1990). Women of Science: Righting the Record. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Steling, P. (1970). Sea and Earth: The Life of Rachel Carson. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.