Dr. Jane Goodall made history with her pioneering study in the Gombe Stream National Park in 1960. She was only 26 when she started her field research on the chimpanzee, and made many groundbreaking discoveries about their emotions, relationships and abilities to make and use tools. Goodall founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to support more research in the Gombe and co-founded Roots and Shoots in 1991.

Goodall has received numerous honors and awards, including the Gold Medal of Conservation from the San Diego Zoological Society in 1974, the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize in 1984, the Schweitzer Medal of the Animal Welfare Institute in 1987, the National Geographic Society Centennial Award in 1988, and the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences in 1990. More recently, she was named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations in 2002 and a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II of England in 2003.