So, I feel like when people think of scientist they automatically think: biology, chemistry, and physics. But, science is just a broad, umbrella term that houses a plethora of disciplines. Each of these disciplines are not only necessary for human progression but also vital as a tool used to explore the realm of science as a whole field. Chemistry is not chemistry without the aid of physics. Biology is not biology unless one knows the chemistry behind it. So on and so forth. Furthermore, the best scientists are the ones that have an inter-disciplined knowledge of multiple fields and the ability to analyze an issue through the lens of multiple science focuses. Which brings me to this week’s Badass Female Scientist: Rachel Carson, a biologist, zoologist, and geneticist who started the global environmental movement through her ability to impact and inform the public with her writings.

Rachel Carson initially entered college as an English major, but switched to Biology, though she kept on writing for her school newspaper. Even though she was accepted into John Hopkins for graduate school, she had to decline the offer due to financial issues. Regardless, she entered John Hopkins later to study zoology and genetics, where she then was awarded her master’s degree in zoology. Again, money was unfortunately an issue, and Carson was forced into taking a full-time teaching position instead of pursuing her doctorate at John Hopkins. She was the bread-winner of the family after her father’s death only two years after she graduated from graduate school, so on top of her teaching position she had to take up a temporary position with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. There she was able to put her writing skills to use, as she wrote a series of educational broadcast called Romance Under the Waters. Her broadcast were widely successful in generating public interest about fish biology and she was asked to write for local newspapers and magazines about marine life. She was then offered a full-time position at the Bureau, becoming the second woman in the Bureau of Fisheries to attain a full-time professional position.

Undersea, a detailed narrative about life on the ocean floor, become Carson’s first major essay that impressed a number of publishing companies. Simon & Schuster (publishing house) asked Carson to expand Undersea into a book, Under the Sea Wind (1941) . While writing her book she was also asked to write for major science magazines like: Sun Magazine, Nature, and Collier’s. Carson was ready to write her second book, and though she had become chief editor of publications in 1949, she decided to start writing full-time. Unlike her first book, Carson’s second book The Sea Around Us was widely successful, with chapters appearing in Science Digest and the Yale Review. It was also on the New York Times Best Seller List for 86 weeks and won the 1952 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the Burroughs Medal.

Carson’s major literary purpose was to inform and educate the public on the sea, but by late 1957 she decided to write about her rising interest in more controversial topics. This ultimately led to the creation of Carson’s most famous book: Silent Spring. Silent Spring is widely accredited with sparking the environmental movement. It documents the adverse effects of indiscriminately using pesticides. Carson even accuses the chemical industry of misinforming the public about the harmful effects of their pesticides and the public officials for remaining unresponsive to the claims that pesticides were harmful on the environment. Silent Spring helped lead to the nationwide ban on DDT, the harmful agricultural insecticide used after the second world war. More importantly, the book was attributed for stirring up the public about the negative effects humans can have on the natural world. The book received fierce criticism from major chemical companies, and though Carson was undergoing radiation therapy for cancer, with the help of notable scientists, prominent public figures, and a growing informed public audience, Carson was eventually able to defend her novel. She testified before President John F. Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee and a U.S. Senate subcommittee.

As a badass female scientist, Rachel Carson’s book helped inspire the grassroots environmental movement in the 1960s, ecofeminism, and the many feminist scientists struggling to be taken seriously in the extremely misogynistic scientific community. Silent Spring is one of the greatest examples of the impact a scientific novel can have on public awareness when written brilliantly.