Silent Spring by the American, Rachel Carson (1907-1964), a STEM trailblazer, was published. Becoming a best seller, it described the environmental harm caused by synthetic pesticides.
The biologist and science writer argued that synthetic pesticides should be renamed biocides due to their impact on many organisms, not just the target pests. This put her into direct conflict with the chemical industry in the US but eventually led to a ban on the use of DDT in agriculture.
