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JANE GOODALL, PH.D.
Biologist
Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute
Silver Springs, Md.

The 2003 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences
In the summer of 1960, 26 year-old-Jane Goodall arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa to study wild chimpanzees at the request of the famed anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey.  Leakey had hoped that Goodall's observations would serve as a window into the evolutionary past of humans.  Through these observations, which she shared with millions of people around the world,  scientists and laymen alike enjoyed the extraordinary opportunity of becoming acquainted with David Greybeard, Flo and her family, Goliath, and all the other friends with whom Goodall shared her forest sanctuary.

Through her books and documentaries, we shadowed Goodall through the forest of Gombe and shared many special moments, including the very first time she watched David Greybeard fashion a small leafy twig to use in fetching termites from a hole in the ground.  The simple action dispelled the long-held believe that only man could make and use a tool.  Said Leakey when he learned about the momentous discovery, "We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human."

Goodall's profound scientific discoveries laid the foundation for all future primate studies.  As a scientist, she greatly expanded the existing body of knowledge on chimpanzee behavior and their natural habitat, about which little had been known.  As a compassionate human being, she changed forever the way we think about all living things.  As a household name, she soon grew to be a legend in her times, passing along a call to action and a legacy of hope that each one of us can play a role in cleaning and healing the earth.

After her first research study in the Gombe National Park, Goodall returned to England, where she earned her Ph.D. in ethology from Cambridge University.  Soon afterwards, she returned to Tanzania, where she established the Gombe Stream Research Centre.  Here she served as scientific director and continued with her research. 

In 1977, she co-founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation.  Grounded in Goodall's pioneering study of chimpanzee behavior that started in 1960, the institute advances the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment.  Among other things, members work in conserving primate habitats; in fostering positive relationships among people, the environment, and animals; and in promoting activities that ensure the well being of chimpanzees and other animals, both in the wild and in captivity.  With Goodall's words and examples as guiding principles, the institute inspires hope for a brighter future.

Roots & Shoots had its genesis in 1991 as a program for youth from preschool through the university.  In fewer than a dozen years, more than 4,000 groups of children, teenagers, and young adults in 70 countries have been inspired to actively care for animals and the environment as well as their communities through this program.  Together, young people are cleaning creeks, restoring prairies and wetlands, and even working in local soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

In addition to coming into our living rooms via National Geographic documentaries and other specials, Goodall has written many books, both for adults and for children.  Intermittently with her research endeavors in Gombe, she served in the role of professor at Stanford University, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Southern California, and Cornell University.  She has been honored with countless awards including the Kyoto Prize, the Encyclopedia Britannica Award, the Animal Welfare Institute's Albert Schweitzer Award, and the National Geographic Society's prestigious Hubbard Medal "for her extraordinary study of wild chimpanzees and for tirelessly defending the natural world we share."

Goodall currently serves as a National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence and as the United Nations Messenger of Peace.  She travels more than 300 days a year promoting conservation, understanding, and peace.