Jane Goodall Biography
Jane Goodall is a well-known figure in the world of primates. She is a primatologist and has been studying chimpanzees in the wild for decades. Her studies have helped the scientific community understand the social groups of chimpanzees and how individual chimps behave. |
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She was born on 3 April 1934 to Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall and Vanna in London, England. Her father was an engineer, while her mother was a novelist. She was around 2 years old, when her mother presented her with a stuffed chimpanzee and this got her interested in animals. While Jane was a good student, she preferred to spend time outdoors and learn about animals. By the time Jane was around 10 years old, she was already dreaming of spending her time in Africa living among animals.
After finishing high school at the age of 18, Jane began to work. She initially worked as a secretary, then as an assistant editor at a film studio and finally as a waitress. Her sole aim was to save up money for her trip to Africa. She was 23 years old when she finally got a chance to go to Africa. She reached Mombasa and met Louis Leakey, who was an anthropologist. He would go on to become her mentor. Leakey and his wife and managed to find the remains of the oldest known human being and this gave impetus to Leakey's claim that the human species originated from Africa and not from Europe or Asia as many anthropologists believed. Leakey was hoping to study primates that were most closely related to humans to figure out what the ancient humans behaved like. He had selected Jane, as he believed a woman would have more patience to observe the primates, and that since she hardly had any formal training, she would be more conducive to describing exactly what she saw.
So, at the age of 26 Jane went to Gombe National Park in southeastern Africa to study chimpanzees. This was in July 1960. Jane thought that it would take her around 3 years to complete the study. However, she ended up living among the chimps for more than 20 years. Initially, Jane worked alone or with the help of native guides. She spent long hours trying to gain the trust of the chimpanzees. She also tracked them through the forest. Soon the chimpanzees began to trust her and she could sit among them.
Prior to Jane's study, it was believed that chimpanzees were violent and aggressive animals with no social structure. However, Jane proved all this wrong. Chimpanzees were organized into groups with complex social structures. They used tools, such as twigs to remove termites from termite mounds.
In the year 1962, Leakey got Jane to begin working on her doctorate through Cambridge University, so that her discoveries would be given more scientific weight. In the year 1965, Jane earned her doctorate without having got an undergraduate degree.
For all her studies and discoveries related to chimpanzees, Jane has received several awards and honors. A lot of Jane's work and studies are now done by the Jane Goodall Institute of Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation located in Ridgefield Connecticut. While nowadays Jane does not actively spend time doing research in Africa, she travels around the world giving lectures on chimpanzees and her discoveries.
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Notable Biographies: Jane Goodall Biography
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Galileo Galilei was the eldest son of Vincenzo Galilei. He was born on 15 February 1564 in Pisa, Tuscany. Galileo's father was a musician. In the early half of 1570s, Galileo's family relocated to Florence. While he was in his teens, Galileo went to a monastery school located in Vallombrosa, close to Florence; and in 1581, he finished his high school from the University of Pisa, where he had enrolled to study medicine. However, Galileo love was mathematics, and he decided to pursue it against his father's wishes. 