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  Jane Goodall (1934 - )

She has spent most of her life sitting alone in an African forest, watching chimpanzees. Ironically, this quiet patience has made her a celebrity. Jane Goodall is the foremost authority on wild chimpanzees and the most recognizable crusader for their preservation.

From her school days in England, Jane Goodall was fascinated by animals. She spent her free time studying local birds and other creatures, reading books on zoology, and dreaming of Africa. She finally arrived there in 1957, and met Dr. Louis Leakey, famed anthropologist and paleontologist, within a month. As his secretary at the Coryndon (now the National) Museum of Natural History, she took part in exploring at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and made her own study of vervet monkeys on an island in Lake Victoria. There were quite a few raised eyebrows when Leakey suggested that young Jane Goodall, with no academic credentials, make a long-term study of the chimpanzees at Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. He raised grant money for the project, and Goodall brought her mother from England to act as a chaperone to quiet those scandalized by the thought of a young woman living alone in the forest. In July 1960 the two women, an African cook, and his family set up what was to become the longest continuous field study of any animal species.

In 1962 the National Geographic Society sent wildlife photographer and filmmaker Baron Hugo van Lawick to document her work. They were married on March 28, 1964. Three years later they had a son, Hugo. Goodall kept young Hugo, nicknamed Grub, with her constantly through his early years, just as chimp mothers do. He lived with his grandmother during his schooling in England, but returned to Tanzania for the summers. Dr. Goodall completed her own formal education in 1965 with a Ph.D. in ethnology, the eighth person in the history of Cambridge University to earn a doctorate without first taking a B.A.

But tougher times lay ahead for Goodall both personally and professionally. She and van Lawick were divorced in 1972. In 1975 rebel soldiers from Zaire invaded Gombe and kidnapped four researchers. Eventually the students were ransomed, but the Tanzanian government insisted Goodall stay safely away from Gombe for months. At the time of the attack, Goodall was newly wed to Derek Bryceson, a member of Tanzania’s parliament and director of national parks. They had only five happy years together before he died of cancer in 1980.

During this time, she began to realize that her life’s work had changed. She wanted to use the knowledge she had accumulated over the years to protect the chimps. One result was the creation, in 1976, of the Jane Goodall Institute for wildlife research, education, and conservation. The U.S.-based institute supports the chimpanzee study at Gombe as well as chimp orphanages and rehabilitation facilities, JGI also coordinates fund-raising events, lecture tours, and the Roots & Shoots clubs for children. Dr. Goodall now travels the world crusading for chimpanzees—inspiring children, and their elders, to care for the earth, the environment, and one another.


Jane Goodall graced the cover of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC in December 1995. That issue is available online at the NGS Store. For more sources, you might consult the NGS Publications Index.