Chapter 1 83 88 ors Rachel Carson reads to her dog Candy near her home in Pennsylvania AN EYE FOR DETAIL L achel Carson's childhood home was the ideal place for a girl who loved science Her family's farm in rural Pennsylvania was 65 acres 26 hectares of forests and streams As a girl she loved to explore these places a 4
r EXPLORING NATURE Rachel s mother taught her to appreciate nature and to learn all about it When exploring her world Rachel had a unique eye for detail She noticed all of the plants and animals in the woods Rachel particularly liked to watch for birds She loved the thrill of discovery Once Rachel found a fossil of a fish on the cliffs behind the family's farm Right away she wondered where it had come from and what had caused the fossil to form She did not yet have the tools to answer these questions But finding the fossil inspired her to learn RACHEL THE WRITER Two of Rachel s biggest passions were reading and writing She loved the books of Beatrix Potter She also wrote her own stories and illustrated them with her drawings At the age of ten one of her stories was published in a children's magazine Rachel was an excellent student She graduated at the top of her high school class Graduating seniors were required to write an essay Rachel wrote hers about the importance of education and hard work She believed that an education did not stop outside the classroom It continued through reading books and observing the outside world 8 8 5
TECH TALK Rachel's like the mid day sun Always very bright Never stops her studying til she gets it right A poem written about Rachel Carson by the editors of her high school yearbook in 1925 STUDYING BIOLOGY Carson went on to the Pennsylvania College for Women She first studied English Although she had always been interested in science she did not intend to study it in college However her plans changed when she was required to take a course in biology The subject soon became her passion She graduated with a biology degree in 1929 To pay for graduate School Carson started working part time in a biology lab She also taught in the zoology department at the University of Maryland In the summer she worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where
Carson did zoology research aboard a sample collecting vessel at Woods Hole Massachusetts in 1929 she learned a lot about the sea She earned a master's degree in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932 Carson wanted to pursue a doctorate degree However she could not afford it Her father had recently passed away and that stretched the family's budget She also had to take care of her aging mother Instead of pursuing her doctorate Carson sought full time
