On October 1, 2025, Jane Goodall, a famous primatologist and scientist known as the “protector of the chimpanzees”, passed away during her sleep at the age of 91. Born on April 3, 1934, as Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall to an engineer father and a novelist mother, Goodall possessed a great passion for animals and their behavior since childhood.
In an attempt to pursue this dream, Goodall left school after graduating from high school at 18 and worked for a film production company until she saved enough money to go to Africa. Eight years later, at the age of 26, she finally earned a chance to go to Tanzania to work as an assistant for the paleontologist and anthropologist Louis Leakey. There, in Gomba Stream National Park, she subsequently began her famous research on chimpanzees.
This research not only awarded her a PhD in ethology from the University of Cambridge, but it also pioneered ways and corrected numerous misunderstandings about chimpanzees and wildlife in general. Her research dove into unprecedented topics such as unrecognized complex social behavior and cognition, including the tool use among primates, their omnivorous diet, and more. Thus, these findings laid the foundation for much of today’s research, and continue to do so after Goodall’s 65 years of research, and the ongoing legacy of it is provided by those in Gombe Stream National Park.
During her lifetime, Goodall published more than 27 books and became a part of multiple film productions with titles ranging from The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior to The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Truing Times. Covering a wide range of genres and topics, her work provided initiatives for service and charity in addition to scientific research.
Just like this, Goodall’s initial 1977 creation of the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation to support the research at Gombe grew into a global organization focused on community-centered conservation and development of wildlife understanding. After various animal service and charity initiatives, Goodall later turned her focus on the harmonious relationship between people and the natural world, as well as the study of anthropology. This led to her being named the UN Messenger of Peace in 2002, followed by being awarded numerous well-known and highly appraised awards, such as the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire at Buckingham Palace.
Conservationist, humanitarian, primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, Goodall encompassed and bridged the gaps between animals and humans as well as humans and humans. In her interview on the show Famous Last Words, she said, “Whether or not you find that role that you’re supposed to play, your life does matter, and that every single day you live, you make a difference in the world… Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful Planet Earth that I look down upon from where I am now. God bless you all.”
Rest in Peace, Dr. Goodall. Your groundbreaking contributions, thoughtful words, and pioneering actions continue to inspire many.