Nationality: UK
Inducted: 2024
Notable Record(s):
- Longest-running wild primate study
An ICON because...
Not many people know what they want to do for the rest of their lives at the age of 10, but animal lover Jane Goodall did.
Paying no heed to what society might have expected of a young woman at the time, she set her sights on studying chimpanzees in Africa and made it happen, arriving at Gombe National Park in Tanzania at the age of 26 in 1960.
After documenting several unprecedented behaviours among the apes – including sophisticated use of tools – the project grew, culminating in the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). More than 60 years later, our understanding of humans’ closest relatives continues to be honed through the JGI’s field research.
The tireless campaigner is adamant that the solution to protecting chimps and their habitat is bound inextricably with educating and empowering young people – a principle that lies at the heart of her Roots & Shoots initiative.
