Rachel Carson (Author of Silent Spring)

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Rachel Carson

Born

in Springdale, Pennsylvania, The United States

May 27, 1907

Died

April 14, 1964

Website

Genre

Outdoors & Nature, Science, Ecology

Influences

John Burroughs ...more

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Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 â€� April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.

Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conserva Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 â€� April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.

Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides, and it inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

A variety of groups ranging from government institutions to environmental and conservation organizations to scholarly societies have celebrated Carson's life and work since her death. Perhaps most significantly, on June 9, 1980, Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. A 17Â¢ Great Americans series postage stamp was issued in her honor the following year; several other countries have since issued Carson postage as well.

Carson's birthplace and childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania â€� now known as the Rachel Carson Homesteadâ€”became a National Register of Historic Places site, and the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead Association was created in 1975 to manage it. Her home in Colesville, Maryland where she wrote Silent Spring was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991. Near Pittsburgh, a 35.7 miles (57 km) hiking trail, maintained by the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, was dedicated to Carson in 1975. A Pittsburgh bridge was also renamed in Carson's honor as the Rachel Carson Bridge. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State Office Building in Harrisburg is named in her honor. Elementary schools in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, Sammamish, Washington and San Jose, California were named in her honor, as were middle schools in Beaverton, Oregon and Herndon, Virginia (Rachel Carson Middle School), and a high school in Brooklyn, New York.

Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (3 km2) near Brookeville in Montgomery County, Maryland were acquired and set aside as the Rachel Carson Conservation Park, administered by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In 1969, the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge became the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; expansions will bring the size of the refuge to about 9,125 acres (37 km2). In 1985, North Carolina renamed one of its estuarine reserves in honor of Carson, in Beaufort.

Carson is also a frequent namesake for prizes awarded by philanthropic, educational and scholarly institutions. The Rachel Carson Prize, founded in Stavanger, Norway in 1991, is awarded to women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental protection. The American Society for Environmental History has awarded the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation since 1993. Since 1998, the Society for Social Studies of Science has awarded an annual Rachel Carson Book Prize for "a book length work of social or political relevance in the area of science and technology studies."

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Rachel Carsonâ€™s books

Average rating: 4.08 · 65,603 ratings · 5,720 reviews · 58 distinct works â€� Similar authors

	Silent Spring 4.05 avg rating — 52,846 ratings — published 1962 — 367 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson, Ann H. Zwinger (Foreword), Jeffrey S. Levinton (Afterword) 4.17 avg rating — 4,784 ratings — 150 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson, Nick Kelsh (Photographer), Charles Pratt, Linda Lear (Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Author) (Introduction) 4.40 avg rating — 3,576 ratings — published 1965 — 70 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Under the Sea-Wind 4.15 avg rating — 1,560 ratings — published 1941 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson, Sue Hubbell (Introduction), Bob Hines (Illustrator) 4.19 avg rating — 1,468 ratings — published 1955 — 96 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson 4.32 avg rating — 272 ratings — published 1998 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Man's War Against Nature 3.85 avg rating — 266 ratings — published 1962 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Something About the Sky by Rachel Carson, Nikki McClure (Illustrator) 4.08 avg rating — 213 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman 1952-64-The Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Rachel Carson, Dorothy Freeman, Martha E. Freeman 4.37 avg rating — 106 ratings — published 1994 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Silent Spring & Other Writings on the Environment by Rachel Carson, Sandra Steingraber 4.59 avg rating — 79 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Rachel Carson (?)

“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.”
― Rachel Carson

tags: destruction, ecology, reality, universe, wonder

2606 likes

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

tags: inspiration, nature

1780 likes

“It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.”
― Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us

tags: biology, curious, evolution, existence, life, ocean, science, sea, sinister, threat

324 likes

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Polls

Who do you think has done most to promote the public understanding of science?

Carl Sagan

5 votes, 25.0%

Richard Feynman

5 votes, 25.0%

Stephen Hawking

3 votes, 15.0%

Edward O. Wilson

2 votes, 10.0%

Richard Dawkins

1 vote, 5.0%

Michio Kaku

1 vote, 5.0%

Carl Zimmer

1 vote, 5.0%

David Attenborough

1 vote, 5.0%

S. Hawking (write-in)

1 vote, 5.0%

Stephen Jay Gould

0 votes, 0.0%

Rachel Carson

0 votes, 0.0%

Jared Diamond

0 votes, 0.0%

20 total votes

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