Dame Jane Goodall

Primary page content

An internationally renowned anthropologist, ethnographer and primatologist, Goodall was awarded an honorary doctorate (DSc) in 2012.

Internationally renowned anthropologist, ethnographer and primatologist, Jane Goodall, is perhaps best known for her work with the chimpanzees of Gombe, Tanzania. She is the author of not only of what is regarded as the definitive scientific study of chimpanzees, The Chimpanzees of Gombe Patterns of Behaviour, but several retrospective surveys of her work in Gombe, including: Through a Window: 30 Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe, In the Shadow of Man, My life with the Chimpanzees and most recently, Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe.

As well as Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued From the Brink of Extinction, she has also written a number of childrenís books including the Chimpanzee Book, which won the UNICEF UNESCO Children's Book of the Year award in 1989.

In addition to two autobiographies in letters, she's written a bestselling autobiography Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey and she's been the subject of several TV documentaries as well as a feature film, Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees.

In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, a global non-profit organisation that empowers people to make a difference for all living things and she has also founded several educational programs and still actively works for them.

Appointed Dame Commander of the Order of The British Empire in 2004, she received the French Legion of Honour and the UNESCO Gold Medal Award two years later.