Rachel Carson

     Rachel Carson was a conservationist and also a marine biologist.  First, she worked on mainly marine biology and wrote pamphlets on conservation and natural resources and edited scientific articles.  She eventually became the Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  But then Carson's eye was caught by the new fad during her time, pesticides.  She studied and spent years on figuring out the defects in pesticides and eventually wrote the book Silent Spring, which brought attention to all of the environmental problems dealing with detrimental effects of the environment, especially on birds.  The book caused a lot of problems for chemical companies and she accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation.  Even though she faced a lot of problems coming from the chemical companies claiming false accusations, she caused the reversal in national pesticide policies, which then led to the nationwide ban of DDT and other pesticides.  Because of her motivation and hard work to get Americans to notice what exactly they have been breathing in and consuming, she inspired many environmentalist groups, especially local ones, and then that led to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  After all of her accomplishments she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter.

http://www.rachelcarson.org/Biography.aspx#.Ut5rXxAo7IU