Rachel Carson is often credited with launching <a href="http://www.fws.gov/northeast/rachelcarson/carsonbio.html"> modern environmentalism</a> in the U.S. after releasing the famed book <em>Silent Spring</em>, which celebrated its <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/silent-spring-50-pesticide-big-ag_n_1920181">50th anniversary last year</a>.
Carson was an avid marine biologist and conservationist-turned-author. After releasing a series of popular environmental books, <em>Silent Spring</em> was <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1962/06/16/1962_06_16_035_TNY_CARDS_000271256">serialized in The New Yorker</a> and then published, <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/hcarson.asp">surprising millions with its claims.</a>
The book attacked the widespread use of DDT that decimated natural animal populations, including songbirds (hence the title). She was also among the first to <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chemistry-lessons-living-_n_1677912">correlate the chemical with cancer</a> and pest resistance.
She died two years after the book was published, but her work <a href="http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/chemistry-in-history/themes/public-and-environmental-health/environmental-chemistry/carson.aspx">eventually led</a> to the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/ddt-brief-history-status.htm">banning of DDT use</a> in 1972, according to the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
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