What awards did Rachel Carson win?
National Book Award for NonfictionPresidential Medal of FreedomGuggenheim Fellowship for Natural Sciences, US & CanadaRachel Carson/Awards
What is Rachel Carson's greatest achievement?
Marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson is hailed as one of the most important conservationists in history and is recognized as the mother of modern environmentalism. She challenged the use of man-made chemicals, and her research led to the nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides.
Did Silent Spring win an award?
Winner, 1952 National Book Awards. She completed Silent Spring against formidable personal odds, and with it shaped a powerful social movement that has altered the course of history.
Why is Rachel Carson a hero?
Rachel Carson catalyzed the global environmental movement with her 1962 book Silent Spring... that ultimately led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)"(National Women's History Museum). Carson's voice and passion for the environment led to many significant changes in governmental policies.
Why was Silent Spring banned?
Kennedy ordered the President's Science Advisory Committee to examine the issues the book raised, its report thoroughly vindicated both Silent Spring and its author. As a result, DDT came under much closer government supervision and was eventually banned.
Why was Rachel Carson's Silent Spring so important?
Specifically, Silent Spring explained how indiscriminate application of agricultural chemicals, pesticides, and other modern chemicals polluted our streams, damaged bird and animal populations, and caused severe medical problems for humans. But her treatise did much more.
When did Rachel Carson receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
1980Rachel Carson died of a heart attack and complications of cancer in 1964. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
What does DDT pesticide stand for?
DichlorodiphenyltrichloroethaneDichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an insecticide used in agriculture. The United States banned the use of DDT in 1972.
When was Silent Spring banned?
Silent Spring marked the beginning of an environmental movement, and DDT's agricultural use in the United States was banned in 1972. But unfortunately Rachel did not survive to see the day. She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
How did Rachel Carson influence the environmental movement?
Carson faced blowback from the chemical industry over her book, but ultimately, the "roar of Silent Spring" led to the banning of DDT and other pesticides across the U.S., and it was quickly translated into multiple languages around the world.
Who is credited with launching the environmental movement?
Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose work is credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Carson started her career as a biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, until she became a full-time nature writer in the early 1950s.
How was Rachel Carson an activist?
Carson's efforts to increase transparency and education resulted in an international uprising of concerned consumers and environmental activists. Devastating to those who knew her as well as the causes she spent her life fighting for, Carson passed away in 1969 after a non-publicized but long-fought battle with cancer.
How old was Rachel Carson when she died?
Rachel Carson was 56 years old when she died.
Why was Rachel Carson influential?
Rachel Carson was an American biologist well known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea. Her book, Silent...
What did Rachel Carson write?
Rachel Carson’s first book, Under the Sea-Wind, was published in 1941. The Sea Around Us (1951) won a National Book Award, and The Edge of the Sea...
Who is Rachel Carson?
Rachel Carson, in full Rachel Louise Carson, (born May 27, 1907, Springdale, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died April 14, 1964, Silver Spring, Maryland), American biologist well known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea.
What is Rachel Carson's most famous book?
Rachel Carson was an American biologist well known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea. Her book, Silent Spring (1962), became one of the most influential books in the modern environmental movement and provided the impetus for tighter control of pesticides, including DDT.
What was Carson's Silent Spring?
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Carson’s prophetic Silent Spring (1962) was first serialized in The New Yorker and then became a best seller, creating worldwide awareness of the dangers of environmental pollution.
When was Silent Spring by Rachel Carson first published?
Rachel Carson: Silent Spring. Book cover of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, first published in 1962. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by John P. Rafferty, Editor.
Was Rachel Carson a communist?
Carson stood behind her warnings of the consequences of indiscriminate pesticide use despite the threat of lawsuits from the chemical industry and accusations that she engaged in “emotionalism” and “gross distortion.”. Some critics even claimed that she was a communist.
What did Rachel Carson receive?
Carson received medals from the National Audubon Society and the American Geographical Society, and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Seriously ill with breast cancer, Carson died two years after her book’s publication. In 1980, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
What year did Rachel Carson get discredited?
Chemical companies sought to discredit her as a Communist or hysterical woman. Many pulled their ads from the CBS Reports TV special on April 3, 1963, entitled “The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson.”. Still, roughly 15 million viewers tuned in, and that, combined with President John F. Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee Report—which validated ...
What was Rachel Carson's most famous book?
A marine biologist and nature writer, Rachel Carson catalyzed the global environmental movement with her 1962 book Silent Spring. Outlining the dangers of chemical pesticides, the book led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides and sparked the movement that ultimately led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
What inspired Carson to write Silent Spring?
A letter from a friend in Duxbury, Massachusetts about the loss of bird life after pesticide spraying inspired Carson to write Silent Spring. The book primarily focuses on pesticides' effects on ecosystems, but four chapters detail their impact on humans, including cancer.
Where was Rachel Carson born?
Rachel Carson Born. Born in Springdale Pa. along the Allegheny River, 13 miles north of Pittsburgh, PA to Maria McLean and Robert Warden Carson.
What was Carson's job in 1944?
By 1944 Carson is promoted to Aquatic Biologist and then to Information Specialist in the Information Division of FWS. Involved in policy planning for the Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries. Wartime research includes radar and sea studies. Clarence Cottam is Carson’s supervisor.
What did Carson and Kelsey discuss at the Audubon meeting?
Carson comments to the press about Kelsey’s brave stand on blocking thalidomide and compares thalidomide to DDT.
Who hired Carson to write a radio program?
1935. Carson takes Federal Civil Service Exams for junior wildlife biologist and junior aquatic biologist. Hired by Elmer Higgins at the US Bureau of Fisheries in Washington, DC to write 52 short radio programs on marine life called "Romance Under the Waters.". Employed as part-time features writer.
Who is the astronaut on the silent spring of Rachel Carson?
A triumph for Carson over her critics. Mercury 7 Space capsule with Astronaut Gordon Cooper orbits the earth.
Who published Carson's first book?
Simon & Schuster publish Carson’s first book. Under the Sea-Wind. Art work is by Howard Frech, an artist Carson worked with at the Baltimore Sun. It is picked up as a selection of the Scientific Book Club, but outbreak of WWII impacts sales and the book goes out of print in 1946. Carson buys the remainder.
Who testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee?
Carson testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations (Ribicoff (Sub committee). Calls for a limit to the number of pesticides in use. Two days later Carson testifies before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.
Who is the Rachel Carson Award named after?
The award is named in honor of Rachel Carson, a monumental figure of the 20th century and the undisputed founder of the modern environmental movement. Each year the Rachel Carson Award is created by Tiffany & Company. The Rachel Carson Awards Council was founded by Allison Whipple Rockefeller in 2004.
Where is the Rachel Carson Award Luncheon held?
The award is presented to honorees each May at the Rachel Carson Award Luncheon. The Luncheon, which is held annually at New York City's Plaza Hotel. Proceeds from the Luncheon support Audubon's Long ...
What is Rachel Carson Award?
Audubon’s Rachel Carson Award is a national award which honors American women whose work has greatly advanced conservation locally and globally. The Award was established in honor of Rachel Carson- a monumental figure in the 20th century and founder of the modern environmental movement.
What is Rachel Carson's symbolism?
Rachel Carson remains a symbol that American women bring strength, courage, and conviction to the protection and care of all forms of life on Earth.
Overview
Life and work
Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907, on a family farm near Springdale, Pennsylvania, just up the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh. She was the daughter of Maria Frazier (McLean) and Robert Warden Carson, an insurance salesman. She spent a lot of time exploring around her family's 65-acre (26 ha) farm. An avid reader, she began writing stories (often involving animals) at age eight. S…
Legacy
Carson bequeathed her manuscripts and papers to Yale University to take advantage of the new state-of-the-art preservations facilities of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Her longtime agent and literary executor Marie Rodell spent nearly two years organizing and cataloging Carson's papers and correspondence, distributing all the letters to their senders so that only what e…
List of works
• Under the Sea Wind, 1941, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, 1996, ISBN 0-14-025380-7
• "Food From the Sea: Fish and Shellfish of New England" (PDF). Us Fish & Wildlife Publications. United States Government Printing Office. 1943.
• "Food From Home Waters: Fishes of the Middle West" (PDF). Us Fish & Wildlife Publications. United States Government Printing Office. 1943.
See also
• Environmentalist
• Environmental toxicology
• Rachel Carson Greenway (three trails in Central Maryland)
• Silent Spring Institute
Further reading
• Brooks, Paul (1972). The House of Life: Rachel Carson at Work. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-13517-6. This book is a personal memoir by Carson's Houghton Mifflin editor and close friend Paul Brooks. Brooks' papers are housed at the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods Library.
• Gottlieb, Robert (2005). Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement. Washington D.C.: Island Press. ISBN 978-1559638326.
External links
• American Experience documentary about Rachel Carson
• A Sense of Wonder : 2010 PBS Documentary / Interviews with Rachel Carson
• Rachel Carson Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Environment
Early life and education
- Born on May 27, 1907 on a farm in Springdale, Pennsylvania, Carson was the youngest of Robert and Maria McLean Carsons three children. She developed a love of nature from her mother, and Carson became a published writer for childrens magazines by age 10. She attended the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University), graduating magna cum laude in 19…
Later career
- After outscoring all other applicants on the civil service exam, in 1936 Carson became the second woman hired by the US Bureau of Fisheries. She remained there for 15 years, writing brochures and other materials for the public. She was promoted to Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Writings
- Meanwhile, she wrote several popular books about aquatic life, among them Under the Sea Wind (1941) and The Sea Around Us (1951). The latter was serialized in the New Yorker and sold well worldwide. She won a National Book Award, a national science writing-prize and a Guggenheim grant, which, with the books sales, enabled her to move to Southport Island, Maine in 1953 to co…
Plot summary
- After a niece died in early 1957, Carson adopted her son and relocated to Silver Spring, Maryland, to care for her aging mother. A letter from a friend in Duxbury, Massachusetts about the loss of bird life after pesticide spraying inspired Carson to write Silent Spring. The book primarily focuses on pesticides' effects on ecosystems, but four chapters detail their impact on humans, includin…
Controversy
- Chemical companies sought to discredit her as a Communist or hysterical woman. Many pulled their ads from the CBS Reports TV special on April 3, 1963, entitled The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson. Still, roughly 15 million viewers tuned in, and that, combined with President John F. Kennedys Science Advisory Committee Reportwhich validated Carsons researchmade pesticide…
Death and legacy
- Seriously ill with breast cancer, Carson died two years after her books publication. In 1980, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her homes are considered national historic landmarks, and various awards bear her name.