The world's foremost authority on chimpanzees, Jane Goodall transformed our understanding of human nature through her landmark long-term field studies at Gombe. Beyond her famous discovery that chimpanzees make and use tools, her observations documented rich chimpanzee play — roughhousing, tickling, chasing — and showed that chimps deprived of play become hostile and violent. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 and served as a NIFP board member. A UN Messenger of Peace and recipient of the Kyoto Prize, the French Legion of Honor, and numerous honorary doctorates, she devoted her later decades to global conservation advocacy. Dame Jane Goodall passed away on October 1, 2025, at the age of 91.
