Celebrating brilliance
In the run up to International Women's Day we wanted to create a series of illustrations celebrating awesome people and their contributions to this here Earth we call home.
To kick things off we featured Marie M. Daly PhD and Rachel Carson, two ground breaking trailblazers within the fields of chemistry and environmentalism respectively.
Marie M Daly PhD 1921-2003.
Daly was the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States, and her groundbreaking work on cell nucleus.
With all the work we create within the human body, we couldn't think of anyone more apt to start our Amazing People series with.
Beyond her work in cardiovascular disease with Dr. Quentin B. Deming, Daly was also an advocate of equality and diversity, dedicated to increasing the number of black students joining medical school programs.
In 1988, she created a scholarship program at Queens College in honour of her father.
Daly, we salute you!
Rachel Carson 1907-1964.
An American marine biologist, author, and conservationist who was absolutely epic!
Carson was a prolific writer and her book Silent Spring spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides. It also inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
As biographer Mark Hamilton Lytle writes, Carson "quite self-consciously decided to write a book calling into question the paradigm of scientific progress that defined post-war American culture." The overriding theme of Silent Spring is the powerful — and often adverse — effect humans have on the natural world.
If that isn't awesome and relevant today, then we don't know what is.
In Print and online
Thanks to Wikipedia for the help in understanding these Awesome People. We hope to introduce additional awesomeness to our illustration soon, so keep checking in!
