Jane Goodall
Primatologist; Director, Gombe Stream Research Centre, Tanzania

"In order to try and conserve chimpanzees in Africa, it's necessary to try to conserve the forests in which they live. To do that, it becomes necessary to become deeply involved with the people living around those forested areas. If you don't have the people with you, then you have little hope of conserving a forest."

In the summer of 1960, Jane Goodall first ventured to the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, East Africa. Although at the time it was unheard of for a woman to travel alone into the wilds of the African forest, this was the fulfillment of Jane's childhood dream. Within a few months of her arrival, she met the famed anthropologist and paleontologist, Dr. Lewis Leakey. One of Leakey's interests was to study wild chimpanzees in order to gain insight into humanity's evolutionary past. Goodall's patient and persistent desire to understand animals prompted Leakey to choose her for this pioneering study. Leakey anticipated Goodall's research to be long term, yet critics believed she would not last more than 3 weeks. Today, nearly 40 years later, Goodall and her staff of researchers continue to contribute significant findings on chimpanzee behavior and social relations. Her profound scientific discoveries have laid the foundation for all future primate studies. In an observation that amazed the world, Goodall documented chimpanzees making and using tools, a behavior that was previously believed to separate humans from other animals. Her studies have revealed many striking similarities between humans and chimpanzees and have demonstrated that animals, like humans, have personalities, emotions, creative intelligence and complex communication and social skills. There are few challenges facing humanity today more urgent and compelling than that of learning to live with sensitivity for the environment. One of the great frontiers unfolding before us is the appreciation of other species as distant relatives with which we share the earth. It has been Jane Goodall who, more than anyone in our generation, has brought this imperative before us and who has shown us the way forward.