Rachel Carson Biography

Rachel Carson was one of the principal forces behind the ignition of the mainstream modern environmental movement that erupted during the 1960s. She embodied her love of nature as an environmentalist not only through her writing but her work as an activist. She was born in 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania. As a young woman she delved into fiction that explored the natural world and in particular her primary interest, the oceans. This had an influence (among others I am sure) on her decision to change from major from English to biology while attending Pennsylvania College for Women. Even though her major changed, luckily her dream of becoming a writer was not abandoned. After graduating top of her class, she went onto attend John Hopkins University for graduate school studying zoology and genetics while working under Raymond Pearl. She earned her master’s in 1934. However, she was never had the opportunity to pursue a doctorate degree due to her father’s death which created the need to support her mother financially. In light of this necessity, she got a job at the U.S Bureau of Fisheries (which later would transform into the Fish and Wildlife Service), where they were impressed with her ability to write. This allowed her to take on increasing responsibility within the agency and eventually, she was the second women to earn a fulltime position as a junior aquatic biologist. After contributing a series of essays and articles that were submitted to newspapers over the years, her first book Under the Sea Wind was published in 1941. The heart of the book showcased her fascination with world’s oceans, a worthwhile theme that she held since childhood and a theme that she would return to several more times. After deciding not to leave ...

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... that I learned about her that resonates with my intellectual interests (aside from her work as an environmentalist) is that she heavily contributed to the ecofeminism movement, a movement grounded in the idea the feminism and the environment are inherently linked. A topic I would like to further explore. In researching Carson I utilized online biographies, several retrospective articles and, of course, her seminal work, Silent Spring.

Rachel Carson died in 1964 due to breast cancer which she struggled with not long after the release of Silent Spring. Mark Lyle, a biographer, author of The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement writes, Carson "quite self-consciously decided to write a book calling into question the paradigm of scientific progress that defined postwar American culture." And that she certainly did.