Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson was a famous marine biologist best known for her controversial book Silent Spring. This book outlined how the use of the supposedly innocuous pesticide DDT was actually responsible for heavily damaging  to the environments it was used in.  Through the evidence presented in Silent Spring Carson was able to prove that DDT was a major factor in multiple cases of birth defects across the country as well as establishing a link between the pesticide and cancer.These revelations shattered the myth of DDT being a harmless chemical and led to the banning of its use by the American governmemt. Carson and her book played a key role in the early environmentalist movement as well. Until her death in 1964 Carson would use her book to help increase awareness of the damage being done to the environment by chemicals and large corporations which ultimately lead to the creation of the EPA. In addition to her wor on as marine biologist and conservationist Carson was a major figure in the formation of the early environmentalist movement and led to the rise of the modern feminist movement.