Queens Name Explorer

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a marine biologist who worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) while developing a career as a nature writer. She published her first book, Under the Sea-Wind, in 1941. After the success of her second book, The Sea Around Us, which won the National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal in 1951, she resigned from government service to focus on her writing. Her third book, The Edge of the Sea, was published in 1957. Carson is best remembered for her groundbreaking 1962 book Silent Spring, which examined the detrimental effects of the insecticide DDT on wildlife. Despite opposition from the chemical industry, an investigation was ordered by President John F. Kennedy (1917-1962), and in 1963 Carson testified before Congress. She died of breast cancer the following year. DDT was banned with the passage of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972.

Curated Collection: the STEAM Society

This STEAM collection spotlights the famous scientists whose achievements set in motion pivotal moments in history. ANATOMY + ART **I.S. 061 Leonardo Da Vinci** Although he is most recognized as the painter of projects like the Mona Lisa and the Burlington House Cartoon Da Vinci was invested in inventing and how art, science, and mathematics intersect. BIOLOGY + PIANO **George Washington Carver High School for the Sciences** George Washington Carver invented machinery to make cultivating crops more efficient and used the fruits of his labor to invent household essentials like bleach, glue, and flour. ELECTRICIAN/ INVENTOR + PUBLICIST **Benjamin Franklin High School for Finance & Information Technology** Benjamin Franklin’s career extended way outside of politics. Outside of founding his own business and contributing to the moral pillars of the United States, Franklin was committed to inventing and experimenting with how electricity could assist everyone. PHYSICS/ SOUND ENGINEERING **P.S. 205- The Alexander Graham Bell School** Alexander Graham Bell invention of the telephone was revolutionary for communication. It allowed for the public access of long-ranged conversations and local information, connecting communities nationwide. CHEMISTRY **M.S. 158 Marie Curie** Marie Curie was well known in both the science community for being the first woman to earn a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903. Curie went on to earn another Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE + LITERATURE **Rachel Carson Intermediate School** Rachel Carson set environmental advocacy in motion when she argued against anthropogenic stresses on wildlife. Her works of writing have allowed for the education of the public to these dangers as well as voiced a call to action for the ban of the chemicals. MECHANIC and DRAFTSMAN + LITERATURE **Latimer Gardens** Along with the greatest inventors of the times, Lewis Latimer was self-taught in mechanical engineering. He worked with names like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison and Hiram S. Maxim to form the base plans for the inventions we have today. Latimer was just as much an artist as a scientist.