810Z Spring 2026 The Revolt of the Biologists: The Role of Life Sciences...

810Z  The Revolt of the Biologists: The Role of Life Sciences in the Early Modern Environmental Movement, 1950-1970
One session
Instructor: Michael Mason
Monday, 2:15—3:40, Apr. 20
Scientists played an influential role in post-World War II America. With the development of the atomic bomb, physical scientists dominated federal government institutions and popular images of science. Scientists such as Einstein, Oppenheimer, and Teller were seen as the face of science in the 1940s and 1950s. Industry and corporations quickly hired chemists and engineers to develop new technologies. At the same time, a growing number of life scientists— Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Barry Commoner, and Paul Ehrlich—were raising the alarm about the increasing destruction of the environment and threats to public health. These scientists enhanced public awareness regarding the ethics of land use, the impacts of chemicals on public health and the natural world, the interconnectivity of all life, and the danger of unsustainable population growth. The lecture will describe how life scientists used their knowledge and voices to help shape the rise of the American modern environmental movement.
Michael Mason has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Miami. He worked for over 33 years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and has given several lectures for OLLI on the history of environmentalism. He remains active in local environmental causes in the D.C. area.