Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist and conservationist. she was born in Springdale Pennsylvania on May 27, 1907 and died April 14, 1964. when Rachel Carson was in the Pennsylvania College for Women she took a biology class so even though she wanted to be a writer she had to take a science class. Next time her mother visited her she said she wanted to change her major to biology. Her family had very little money and she was the only one that could keep the family alive. When she was a scientist she built a cottage in Maine where she had some microscopes. There she studied some tiny animals like Grey Sea Squirts, Pale Pink Hydroids, tiny Starfish, Green Sea Sponge -flowers that are not plants but animals. When Rachel's niece Marjie died she had to take care of Marjie's son Roger. Rachel got a letter from Mrs. Olga Owens Huckins that said that all the songbirds on her land died after airplanes sprayed poisons to kill bugs. Rachel wrote letters to entomologists and ornithologists asking why and they said that birds, grasshoppers, butterflies, bees, and fish were all being killed because of the poisons. Rachel who loved the world so much was frightened and angry so she wrote a book about it called Silent Spring because if the birds were killed they would not be able to sing in the spring. This book was a landmark in the birth of the environmental movement.