Biography rachel carlson picture potrait

A marine biologist and nature writer, Rachel Carson catalyzed the global environmental movement with her 1962 book Silent Spring.

Outlining the dangers of chemical pesticides, the book led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides and sparked the movement that ultimately led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Born on May 27, 1907 on a farm in Springdale, Pennsylvania, Carson was the youngest of Robert and Maria McLean Carson’s three children.

She developed a love of nature from her mother, and Carson became a published writer for children’s magazines by age 10.

Biography rachel carlson picture potrait

She attended the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University), graduating magna cum laude in 1929. She next studied at the oceanographic institute at Woods Hole, Massachusetts and at Johns Hopkins University, where she received a master’s degree in zoology in 1932.

Strained family finances forced her to forego purs