Rachel Carson: Life, Discoveries and Legacy.

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Rachel Carson's writings about the dangers of pesticides helped start the modern environmental movement.
Credit: Library of Congress
Marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson is hailed as one of the most important conservationists in history and is recognized as the mother of modern environmentalism. She challenged the use of man-made chemicals, and her research led to the nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides. Her environmental movement also eventually led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the  National Women's Museum.
"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction," Carson said. She also famously stated, "But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself."
Early Life
Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907, in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and grew up on a 65-acre farm. As a child, she spent her days exploring nature and writing. Her first work was published in a children's magazine when she was 10 years old. This upbringing instilled in her first-hand knowledge of nature and wildlife that spurred her into her life pursuits. "In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth," said Carson.
Originally determined to be a writer, Carson changed her major from English to biology in college. In 1929, she graduated from the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College). She then went on to do graduate work at Johns Hopkins University (which was almost unheard of for women at the time) and had her fellowship at the U.S. Marine Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. During her postgraduate studies she taught at the Johns Hopkins summer school. Carson then began teaching at the University of Maryland for five years.
Contributions to science
After the five-year stint, Carson joined the Bureau of Fisheries in 1935. One of her first duties was to create a series of seven-minute radio programs about marine life. They were named "Romance Under the Waters."...
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