Rachel Carson (1907-1964) Biologist and environmentalist She was born in Pennsylvania (USA), and published her first article at the age of eleven . She began her studies in English Literature, but changed and in 1929 graduated as a biologist. She continued to study Zoology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins University. In 1935, she obtained a position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser vice as a scientist and editor. Carson began researching DDT and its harmful ef fects. In 1962, she published her book Silent Spring, which proposed policies and behaviours to preser ve the environment. With her book and her testimony, she helped develop the philosophical and political movement that today we call environmentalism. Inge Lehmann (1888-1993) Seismologist In 1936 this Danish seismologist discovered the Lehmann discontinuity, which separates the liquid outer core from the solid inner core of the Earth . This discover y was ver y important because, until then , people had believed that the Earth was hollow. She helped establish two seismological stations in Greenland and participated in the assembly of a network of seismographs in Copenhagen . In 1928, she was appointed head of the Department of Seismology of the Royal Danish Geodetic Institute, which she directed for 25 years. Lehmann relied on the analysis of seismic waves to prove her theor y, collecting seismograph data from various parts of the world . Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (1943) Virologist and immunologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi began her career as a researcher at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research and later moved to the Institute Pasteur. Two years after the detection of the first cases of AIDS in the United States, a group of specialists, led by Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, discovered the agent that causes the disease: HIV. In 2008, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discover y. Her career focuses on AIDS research , with work aimed at finding a vaccine, preventing disease and fighting infection . Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909-2012) Neurologist Levi-Montalcini studied Medicine at the University of Turin (Italy). She graduated in 1936 and specialised in Neurology and Psychiatr y. During World War II, Jews were forbidden to practise any profession , so she set up a laborator y in her room to continue working. In 1947, she entered as a research associate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri . In addition , she also led the Institute of Cell Biology in Rome. In 1986 she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Stanley Cohen , for discovering ner ve growth factor, a protein that stimulates the development and growth of the ner vous system. This is a selection of some of the people most relevant to the contents of your book. In the units you will meet some more scientists. Can you add any more examples? 15
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