Rachel Carson

The American environmental movement is said to have begun in 1962, the year that Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published. At that time, the book created a media frenzy and caused a great deal of controversy. For one side, many conservationists and biologists—and the nature-sympathizing public at-large—the book became a rallying point and a symbol for opposition to the harmful effects of industrial chemicals. Businessmen aligned with agriculture and industry condemned the book as inflammatory and sensationalist. Over the long-term, the work has proven to embody an important turning point, when the American public’s perception of the fragility of nature came into focus.

Rachel Carson was not unknown at the time of Silent Spring’s publication. A decade earlier, her book The Sea Around Us was a record-setting New York Times best-seller. This work, like her others, fuses poetic verse with scientific detail, creating both accessible and informational reading. Carson could provide a great deal of scientific information, because she spent her adult life studying her passion, marine biology. Carson finished her MA, Zoology degree from Johns Hopkins in 1932, and though she wasn’t financially able to complete her doctorate, she entered into a career in marine biology with the US government.

While working with the US Fish & Wildlife Service (initially, US Bureau of Fisheries) from 1935 until her resignation 1951, Carson’s career revolved around writing publications and other government literature. She wrote for radio broadcast and for scientific studies, among other topics, and by 1949 had become a chief editor. Her work outside the department was mostly writing, too—she was a successful article writer for Nature, The Baltimore Sun, and many other publications.

The Sea Around Us was Carson’s entrance onto the national stage. She gained a fair degree of celebrity from the book, and some influence along with it. The work won the nonfiction National Book Award in 1952, and its success in the marketplace gave Carson the financial freedom to leave her government career to focus on writing full-time. Carson was a prolific and varied writer through the 1950s, but her next major volume did not come until 1962.

The 1962 release of Silent Spring is solidified in history as a pivotal moment for environmentalism. In this work, Carson focused on chemical pesticides used in industrial agriculture and their many effects on the environment. The prime example used is DDT, a chemical used very widely in the US a pesticide throughout the 1940s and 50s. The chemical, banned for use in the US as a direct result of Silent Spring, is now famous as an archetype for environmentally disastrous substances. The title of the work is in reference to a potential future in which humans have caused widespread die-offs in bird populations as a result of continued use of chemicals like DDT. This chemical proved detrimental to bird populations because it caused eggshells to become thin and brittle—declines in the populations of bald eagles and other bird species during these decades resulted from DDT exposure.

• 1907, May 27- Rachel Carson is born in Springdale, PA
• 1925- Upon graduating from high school, she won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania College for Women in Pittsburgh, PA. She initially studied English, later changing her major to biology.
• 1929- Graduated magna cum laude with a degree in biology, winning a further scholarship into to a masters' program at Johns Hopkins University. She studies zoology.
• 1932- She was awarded her zoology MA from Johns Hopkins.
• 1934- She dropped out of her PhD. program at Johns Hopkins because she could no longer afford to go, due to the Great Depression. She had aimed to earn her doctorate in marine biology.
• 1935- Carson was encouraged to enter the US Civil Service, joining the US Bureau of Fisheries (later, Fish & Wildlife Service) as a feature writer for radio. She wrote short radio programs about marine life.
• 1935, July- Carson's father died, leaving her in a stressful position as the primary income-producer for her family.
• 1936- As she was employed as a junior biologist with the Bureau of Fisheries, she also began writing freelance for The Baltimore Sun.
• 1937, September- Her article, "Undersea," was published in the Atlantic Monthly. It was both a creative and scientific essay, making for an unusual read at that time, and it was very popular.
• 1938-1939- She began working on what would become her first book: Under the Sea-Wind.
• 1939, June- She was promoted to become an assistant Aquatic Biologist.
• 1941- Under the Sea-Wind was published, to some acclaim in the scientific community, but was taken out of print by 1946, partially due to the Second World War.
• 1944- She continued to climb through the ranks at what had become US Fish & Wildlife, taking a post at the Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries.
• 1950- She underwent surgery to remove breast cancer, the disease that would eventually take her life.
• 1950-1952- Carson's second book, The Sea Around Us, was a huge success. The work won the nonfiction National Book Award, became a New York Times bestseller, and was made into a feature film.
• 1951- She resigned from her position at US Fish & Wildlife to focus on her writing career.
• 1953, December- Her only scientific, academic work, "The Edge of the Sea, was presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
• 1958, December- Carson's mother Maria died in Pennsylvania.
• 1962- Silent Spring was published, becoming a very popular, controversial, and influential book.
• 1962, May- The President's Science Advisory Committee's report "The Uses of Pesticides" was officially presented, scientifically confirming Carson's assertions about the dangers of DDT and other chemicals.
• 1963, June- She testified before two US Senate committees, advocating for more strict regulations on agricultural chemicals and pesticides.
• 1964, April- Carson died of complications relating to breast cancer at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland.
• 1965- Carson's 1956 article The Sense of Wonder was published posthumously as a book.