Top 10 Facts about Rachel Carson


 

Rachel Carson was a world-renowned Marine Biologist, Novelist, and Environmentalist who worked for the US Fish & Wildlife Service as an Aquatic Biologist and Editor-in-Chief. She is credited with initiating the modern environmental movement in the United States through her seminal literary works.

Rachel Carson was an extraordinary woman who fearlessly broke down barriers and transformed the nation’s consciousness of the issues of man-made chemicals. She is definitely worth knowing more about.

Here are 10 facts about her that you need to know.

1. She was afraid of letting people know about her breast cancer

Carson kept her battle with breast cancer a secret and was deathly afraid of informing the public. A case in point was when she testified before Congress, shortly after the publication of her controversial book Silent Spring, Carson wore a wig to disguise her balding head-  a side effect of radiation treatments she was receiving.

Rachel Carson died of metastatic breast cancer just two years after the publication of Silent Spring. She was only 57 years old. She had completed her last book despite excruciating agony and illness, and her lover Dorothy Freeman would later claim that Silent Spring had killed her.

2. Her book “Silent Spring” caused an immediate sensation

Carson’s views were backed up by the results of President Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee Report, to the displeasure of her critics. As a result, DDT and other pesticides were strictly controlled. This book is largely credited with igniting the current environmental movement and laying the groundwork for the establishment of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

3. She warned of the dangers of DDT

DDT spray

DDT spray by Content Providers(s): CDC from Wikimedia Commons

In the 1940s, DDT was invented. It was first used during WWII to help control the spread of malaria, typhus, and other insect-borne diseases. However, following the end of World War II, the manufacturers sought commercial applications for the substance in the hope of tapping into emerging markets.

Carson was among those concerned as early as the 1940s that releasing a powerful poison into the environment might not be such a good idea. Carson, as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee, had read government reports on DDT and how it had not been tested for civilian use. As it was causing the deaths of animals and insects, Rachael pitched Reader’s Digest an article on the subject, but the popular magazine turned it down.

 A citizen’s group called the Committee Against Mass Poisoning filed a lawsuit in New York State in 1958 to try to stop aerial insecticide spraying. Olga Owens Huckins, a member of the Committee, contacted Carson and urged her to write about the suit. Carson was hesitant, primarily because it would require her to leave Maine for New York. She had good reasons not to. For one thing, she had obligations. When one of her two nieces died when she was young, she left behind an orphaned boy named Roger. Carson, who had a tendency to prioritize family, adopted her grand-nephew. This was admirable in and of itself, but Carson was also embarking on what would be a long and agonizing battle with breast cancer.

Despite this, she was extremely concerned about the use of insecticides, particularly DDT. The more she researched the subject, the more convinced she became that she needed to write about it. She asked colleagues to keep an eye on the New York trial while she stayed at home and started her research. It was the beginning of what would become “Silent Spring,” her most well-known work.

4. She had a secret affair with a woman named Dorothy Freeman

Rachel Carson never married and never expressed romantic interest in the opposite sex. She met a woman named Dorothy Freeman when she moved to Maine. It was the start of an intense, yet nearly completely hidden love affair. The two women appeared to be good friends to the outside world. Freeman, who was in her 50s at the time, was married with children and tried to keep her relationship a secret.

5. She devoted herself to writing full-time and moved to a house near the sea

Carson resigned from the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1951 to pursue writing full-time after the popularity of her book “The Sea Around Us.” In 1952, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which, combined with income from her novels, enabled her to purchase a small plot of land on the Maine coast in 1953.

6. Her work was described as too good for the government

Carson’s wonderful prose couldn’t be contained in government papers for long. When she finally submitted “The World of Waters,” an 11-page article about marine life, her employer told her it was too good for official publishing. Instead, he advised her to look for a journal that will publish it.

7. She paved the way for other women in Science

Photo by Julia Koblitz on Unsplash

Carson decided to apply for a job in the public service despite having to abandon her further education to support her family. By then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt had increased the number of federal positions to help the country recover from the Great Depression in 1935.

At the US Bureau of Fisheries, she did a lot of study and writing. Carson was also a member of a team that investigated the nature of underwater sounds and geography during World War II to aid the Navy in the development of its submarine program. She also wrote brochures for housewives, instructing them on how to prepare fish in the face of meat shortages during WWII. By then it was odd to see women in science which is why she was such a great inspiration for women that aspired to be more than wives.

8. She was the sole breadwinner of her family

Her family moved in with her while she was pursuing her doctorate. Carson was the primary provider in the family, supporting not only her mother and father but also one of her sisters and two nieces while working as a lab assistant and teacher.

Unfortunately, Carson had to drop out of her doctoral study and find work to support her family due to financial constraints. Carson’s father died in 1935, and her sister died in 1937, leaving her mother and nieces financially dependent on her. Any and all future research projects for Carson were ruled out which was such a great sacrifice.

9. She studied English and Biology

Faculty of biological science

Faculty of biology by Moyeen Riyad

As a child, Carson did a lot of writing and wrote articles as well as short literary works. She actually stated that she couldn’t recall a time when she didn’t know she wanted to be a writer. She had no idea why this was the case; all she knew was that it appeared to be a foregone conclusion, an inescapable, inborn calling.

10. By the age of 10, Carson was a published writer

Rachael Carson writing

Rachael Carson by Petar Milošević from Wikimedia Commons

Carson’s main hobbies as a child were the natural surroundings of her hillside home and her writing. At the age of ten, she was “published” in a children’s magazine dedicated to the work of young writers.

In a television interview, Carson once stated that “man’s endeavours to control nature by his powers to alter and to destroy would inevitably evolve into a war against himself, a war he would lose unless he came to terms with nature.”

She died of cancer at the age of 57 in 1964. To honour Carson’s legacy, the Fish and Wildlife Service designated one of its refuges near her summer home on the coast of Maine the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in 1969.

Planning a trip to Paris ? Get ready !


These are Amazon’s best-selling travel products that you may need for coming to Paris.

Bookstore

  1. The best travel book : Rick Steves – Paris 2023 – Learn more here
  2. Fodor’s Paris 2024 – Learn more here

Travel Gear

  1. Venture Pal Lightweight Backpack – Learn more here
  2. Samsonite Winfield 2 28″ Luggage – Learn more here
  3. Swig Savvy’s Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottle – Learn more here

Check Amazon’s best-seller list for the most popular travel accessories. We sometimes read this list just to find out what new travel products people are buying.