Rachel Carson: Impacting Science and Women

Background and Education: Rachel Carson, author and scientist, was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania in 1907 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d.). She attended Pennsylvania College for Women in 1925 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d.). Carson was originally majoring in English but later switched to biology (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d.). She was then offered a graduate scholarship at Johns Hopkins University in 1929 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d.). Upon graduating from Hopkins in 1932 with a master’s in marine biology, Carson taught zoology at the University of Maryland while continuing her studies at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA (Payton, 2002).

Impact: Sources such as The New York Times credit Carson with starting the environmental movement (Griswold, 2012). After publishing Silent Spring, pesticide companies and other skeptics argued with the claims of her book (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d.). Carson expected controversy and had her book and research verified by multiple scientists. President John F. Kennedy created a federal committee to investigate pesticides and as a result Carson testified in front of the U.S. Senate in 1963 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d.). After presenting policy recommendations the U.S. Department of Agriculture began formulating pesticide regulations (EPA, 2016). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was started in 1970 and by 1972 banned the use of DDT because of its environmental effects, including wildlife and human health risks as a result of Carson’s Silent Spring (EPA, 2016). The book is credited for being one of the first books to make humans question and recognize their impact on nature and the environment (Griswold, 2012).

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