Jane Goodall, Ph.D.
• World-Renowned Conservationist
• Founder, Jane Goodall Institute
• United Nations Messenger of Peace
In the summer of 1960, a young Englishwoman arrived on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, East Africa. She was about to venture into the African forest to study chimpanzees—a highly unorthodox activity for a woman at that time. British authorities had insisted that the young woman have a companion, and so her mother would for a time share this adventure. As Dr. Jane Goodall first surveyed the mountains and valley forests of the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve, she had no idea her coming efforts would redefine the relationship between humans and animals or that this project would continue into the 21st century.
One of Goodall's most significant discoveries came in her first year at Gombe, when she saw chimps stripping leaves off stems to make the stems useful for fishing termites out of nearby mounds. This and subsequent observations of Gombe chimps making and using tools would force science to rethink the definition that separated man from other animals: "man the toolmaker." Goodall also observed chimps hunting and eating bushpigs and other animals, disproving the widely held belief that chimpanzees were primarily vegetarians.
Goodall defied scientific convention by giving the chimpanzees names instead of numbers, and insisted on the validity of her observations that the chimps had distinct personalities, minds and emotions. She wrote of lasting chimpanzee family bonds. Through the years her work yielded surprising insights such as the discovery that chimpanzees engage in warfare.
Goodall established the Gombe Stream Research Center in 1964. Under the stewardship of Tanzanian field staff and other researchers, it continues Goodall's work today, making it one of the longest uninterrupted wildlife studies in existence.
In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which supports the Gombe work and other research, education and conservation and development programs. These include community-centered conservation efforts in Africa that empower villagers to build sustainable livelihoods while promoting regional conservation goals such as reforestation and an end to the illegal commercial bushmeat trade. JGI's Roots & Shoots program, which supports students from preschool through university in projects that benefit people, animals and the environment, today hosts about 6,000 worldwide groups in more than 87 countries.
Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth. She continually urges her audiences to recognize their personal responsibility and ability to effect change through consumer action, lifestyle change and activism.
In January 2006 the French government honored Goodall as an Officer of the French Legion of Honor for her work with primates and her extraordinary efforts to encourage positive action around the world as well as the conservation, development and education programs of the Jane Goodall Institute. The Légion d'Honneur, established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, is France's most prestigious honor. Past award recipients include oceanographer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau, anti-Holocaust and human rights activist Elie Wiesel, and deaf and blind activist Helen Keller.
Goodall's other honors include the Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research 2003, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science and the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence. In April 2002 Secretary-General Annan appointed Goodall to serve as a United Nations "Messenger of Peace." In 2004, at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Prince Charles invested Goodall a Dame of the British Empire, the female equivalent of knighthood.
Her list of publications is extensive, including two overviews of her work at Gombe — In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window — as well as two autobiographies in letters, the best-selling autobiography Reason for Hope and many children's books. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior, recognized as the definitive work on chimpanzees, is the culmination of Goodall's scientific career. She has been the subject of numerous television documentaries and the large-screen format film, Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (2002). In 2004, the Discovery Channel featured her in two Animal Planet specials— Return to Gombe and The State of the Great Ape.
Jane Goodall will gave her main talk titled, "A Reason for Hope" on March 27, 2008 to a crowd of 2,500 people. After her presentation, Dr. Goodall signed books for three hours, not leaving her seat until all in line had their books signed.
Jane Goodall - Reason For Hope
Based upon the many scientific, personal, and spiritual experiences that have graced and shaped her outlook on life, Jane Goodall is convinced there is a higher purpose to life, and that this purpose can best be served by developing and nourishing a deep respect for life in all its forms, a commitment to seeking to understand the spiritual ties that bind us to the natural world. In this book, Dr. Goodall takes readers through the pivotal events in her life, and in doing so, touches upon such topics as faith and love, mysticism and science, evil and evolution, and the existence of the soul and God. She sheds light not only on why millions of people are hungry for meaning, but offers readers a message of hope that is heartfelt, thought-provoking, and profoundly inspiring.