Dr. Jane Goodall
A leading #primatologist, #ethologist, #anthropologist, a UN Messenger for Peace, & an inspiration for generations, accepted by both chimps & the scientific community.
Featuring artwork by Miler Ximeno Lopez (Milo) & words by Dr. Roopali Chaudhary, Sci-Illustrate Stories
Recently, I showed a picture of popular male and female scientists to a group of STEM enthusiastic high school students, and Dr. Jane Goodall is the only female scientist they recognized. Jane is one of the few scientists whose outreach efforts have been so influential that it changed the way humans defined “Man”. In fact, I knew about Jane before I knew what a scientist was.
Jane, born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall, was unable to go to university after high school as a consequence of WWII. Instead, she worked as a secretary at Oxford University, later moving to a London filmmaking company where she chose music for documentaries. When a friend asked if she would like to go to Kenya, Jane’s childhood dream of living in the jungles of Africa like Tarzan flashed before her eyes. To achieve this trip of a lifetime, Jane quit her job in London, moved back home and worked as a waitress to earn enough for boat fare for her and her family.
In Kenya, she met Dr. Louis Leakey who was impressed by Jane’s knowledge about Africa and its wildlife. He hired her as an assistant, giving her repetitive and slow tasks for 3 months like removing dirt from fossils with a dental pick. Leakey, however, recognized her patience, thorough nature, and ability to stay isolated for long stretches, and he knew she would be perfect for a new project he was starting which required observing primates in the wild.
There was no looking back for Jane once this opportunity presented itself. Though Leakey was not to join her in Tanzania, and being British, the British government ordered her to bring a companion; Jane took her mom, breaking stereotypes and not waiting for approval to fulfil her childhood dreams. Jane started her adventures in Gombe in 1960, accompanied by her mom, a local cook and his wife. Walking in the extreme heat from dawn to dusk, Jane either saw the backs of chimpanzees as they ran away from her, or none at all, while her body got accustomed to a foreign hostile environment full of dense foliage and massive insects. It was eight months of daily persistence and observation from afar, before a chimp sat on a tree near her camp. Jane named him David Greybeard; a task frowned upon by “real” scientists. Slowly, David Greybeard allowed Jane to approach him and other chimps, and she observed them grooming each other, hunt for food (disproving conventional thought that chimps were vegetarian) AND making tools, an activity that was believed to only be done by humans. This observation redefined “Man”, because we did not seem so different from them otherwise.
In 1962, despite lacking an undergraduate degree, Jane started her PhD at Cambridge University. She dealt with a lot of ridicule and criticism by academic scholars for her claims that chimps have emotions, minds and personalities. One acclaimed scholar dismissed her observations as “unbound speculation”, because she chose to name her primates rather than give them numbers. But Jane never doubted her competency. Though a soft-spoken woman, she refused to back down; she simply told the “esteemed scientists” that they were wrong. In 1963, Jane published her first article in National Geographic “My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees”; one that has been republished digitally in honour of her 85th birthday, and makes for a fascinating read!
Just before her dissertation was completed, in 1965, Jane published her first book called “My Friends, the Wild Chimpanzees”, a book for informing the general public. This publication almost got her kicked out of her doctorate program. Science communication was not considered intellectual. It wasn’t just from humans that Jane struggled to get acceptance; she recounts an incident when an angry male chimpanzee hit her before the chimpanzees were accustomed to her. Despite all the hurdles, Jane persisted with patience and determination and was finally accepted by both the chimpanzees and the scientific community. She has since written many books, both for adults and kids, and has been the subject in about 40 documentaries. In 1977, Jane founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues to support the research at Gombe and is the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in Africa. In 1986, Jane retired from research and summarized her 25 years of work in her book “The Chimpanzees of Gombe”. Since then she is an avid activist. Today Dr Jane Goodall is known as a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, a UN Messenger for Peace, and an inspiration for generations.
Sources:
About the author:
DR. ROOPALI CHAUDHARY
Content Editor Women in Science, Sci-Illustrate Stories
Dr. Chaudhary has an MSc in Genetics (University of Waterloo, Canada) studying Drosophila embryogenesis (fruit fly embryo development), and a PhD in Cellular & Molecular Biology (McMaster University, Canada) studying intestinal inflammation in a novel mouse model. She furthered her career in a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship studying the immune memory in food allergies (McMaster University, Canada). Dr. Chaudhary’s continually strives to make science accessible, be with through her edible science art (custom cakes), teaching or her outreach activities.
About the artist:
MILER XIMENA LÓPEZ
Contributing Artist Women in Science, Sci-Illustrate stories
Expressing myself graphically has always been a source of great satisfaction for me. With my work, I can provide many things to others in different positive ways, as well as get a lot in return, because in every goal achieved, in every process, there is a lot to learn.
About this series:
Not enough can be said about the amazing Women in Science who did and continue to do their part in moving the world forward.
Every month, through the artwork & words of the Sci-Illustrate team, we will bring to you profiles of women who touched our hearts (and brains) with their scientific works, and of many more who currently hold the flag high in their own fields!
-Dr. Radhika Patnala, Series Director
