Rachel Carson was an American marine biologist, conservationist, and writer. She worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and wrote several popular books about the ocean and the natural world before turning to pesticides. Silent Spring came out in 1962 and made her one of the most influential and most attacked writers of her era. Chemical companies and some scientists tried to discredit her, and many critics targeted her because she was a woman. She testified before Congress in 1963 and died of breast cancer in 1964, before seeing the full impact of her work. That impact was huge. Her book is widely credited with helping launch the modern environmental movement, the creation of the EPA, and the US ban on DDT.
