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Rachel Carson

Marine biologist and writer who advanced the environmental movement.

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Rachel Carson

via Wikipedia: Rachel Carson · see source

Through her 1962 publication Silent Spring, Carson succeeded in making environmental issues a concern for a larger portion of the American populace than ever before.[1]

Life and work

Carson was born on May 27, 1907, on a family farm near Springdale, Pennsylvania.[2][3] In 1936, Carson became the second woman hired full-time by the Bureau of Fisheries as a junior aquatic biologist.[4] Her essay "Undersea," published in the Atlantic Monthly in July 1937, marked a major turning point in her writing career.[4] Houghton Mifflin released Silent Spring on September 27, 1962.[5]

A shift in national pesticide policy was triggered by the book, which resulted in a prohibition of DDT and other pesticides across the country.[1] President Jimmy Carter gave Carson the Presidential Medal of Freedom after her death.[1][3]

What the cited sources add

The Maine Women Writers Collection notes that Carson's family homestead was in Springdale, Pennsylvania, a town near Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River.[3][6] The Science History Institute account states that Carson's mother, a follower of the nature study movement, took Rachel on outings to identify plants and wildlife.[6] According to the Science History Institute, Carson's professor Mary Scott Skinker convinced her to switch her major to biology during her junior year.[6] The Maine Women Writers Collection reports that after her second book, Carson built a cottage on Southport Island, Maine.[3]

The Science History Institute notes that CBS broadcast an hour-long special report, "The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson," in April 1963.[6] Conis (2017) states that DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, a development largely credited to Carson.[7] The Maine Women Writers Collection attributes the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 to the consciousness-raising of Silent Spring.[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Rachel Carson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paull, John (2013) "The Rachel Carson Letters and the Making of Silent Spring", SAGE Open, 3 (July): 1–12. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Rachel Carson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Maine Women Writers Collection—Research—Featured Writers—Rachel L. Carson Collection, 1946–1964", University of New England (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. "Maine Women Writers Collection—Research—Featured Writers—Rachel L. Carson Collection, 1946–1964", University of New England. facts only, no text reused. une.edu
  4. Wikipedia, "Rachel Carson" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Rachel Carson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McLaughlin, Dorothy, "Fooling with Nature: Silent Spring Revisited", Frontline; Josie Glausiusz. (2007), Better Planet: Can A Maligned Pesticide Save Lives? Discover Magazine. p. 34; Conis, "Beyond Silent Spring: An Alternate History of DDT", Distillations, 2017, p. 16–23; "Rachel Carson", Science History Institute, June 2016; "Rachel Carson", National Archives and Records Administration; Carson, "Silent spring", Houghton Mifflin, 1994, p. XV-XXVI; "Legacy of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring", National Historic Chemical Landmarks, 2012 (we a en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Rachel Carson", Science History Institute, June 2016. facts only, no text reused. sciencehistory.org
  7. Conis, "Beyond Silent Spring: An Alternate History of DDT", Distillations, 2017, p. 16–23. facts only, no text reused. sciencehistory.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Rachel Carson (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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1. In what year was Rachel Carson born?

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2. In what year did Rachel Carson die?

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3. In which place was Rachel Carson born?

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Not quite. The answer is Springdale, Pennsylvania, U.S..

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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