Half a century ago, a young wisp of a woman strode into the Gombe Stream National Park with a daunting task: document the behaviour of chimpanzees in the wild to uncover the secrets of human evolutionary history. An unlikely primatology pioneer, the 26 year old former debutante’s scientific background was non-existent; her highest degree was from a secretarial school and she spent the months before arriving in Tanzania working as a waitress in London.  

But in 1960, armed with only a pair of binoculars, a notebook and a childhood love of animals, Dr Jane Goodall witnessed a species other than homo sapiens make and use a tool, a discovery that revolutionised the world’s understanding of humans, who had up until that point been anthropologically characterised as the “tool-makers”. Goodall’s groundbreaking finding five decades ago not only transformed the scientific classification of our own species, it set into motion a series of events that have led to a lifetime of environmental stewardship for the British dame. But the journey was never an easy one for this trailblazing woman.

"My mission is to work with youth and give them hope. And helping everyone understand that every day we live we make a difference – and we have a choice as to what sort of impact we want to make."

When Goodall first arrived at Gombe, she recorded her frustrations over her fruitless attempts to learn about her chimpanzee subjects. “My future is so ridiculous,” she wrote. “I just squat here, chimp-like, on my rocks, pulling out pricks and thorns, and laugh to think of this unknown ‘Miss Goodall’ who is said to be doing scientific research somewhere.” Little did she know that her “ridiculous” work would soon make the “unknown Miss Goodall” a household name.

After months of observation at Gombe, Goodall won the trust of her chimpanzee subjects and made discoveries that went well beyond the primate’s tool-making capabilities. Contrary to popular belief in the scientific community, chimpanzees hunted and ate meat. They exhibited “human” emotions: hugging and kissing to show affection, acting altruistically to fellow chimps in need and expressing anger, sometimes in violent ways. As Goodall herself explains, “There are so many biological and behavioural similarities between humans and animals. The chimps showed me that there is no sharp line dividing us from the rest of the animal kingdom – that we’re part of the animal kingdom.”

Scientists did not immediately jump on board with the young Goodall’s conclusions, citing her lack of training and tendency to name her subjects, an unforgiveable sin in the academic world, as flaws in her research. To legitimise her findings, Goodall returned to England in 1962 to receive her doctorate in ethology, the scientific study of animal behaviour. In a nod to how important her discoveries were, Goodall became only the eighth person permitted Ph.D. study with no prior university degree. With a doctorate from Cambridge to quiet her detractors in hand, Goodall headed back to Gombe and continued her research with the chimpanzees for the next 15 years.

In 1977, Goodall decided that scientific research was not enough to save her beloved Gombe and its animal inhabitants from the environmental degradation that was slowly destroying the forest. She set up the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), a foundation initially designed to promote research at Gombe and protect chimpanzees and their habitats. She left the jungle behind for corporate boardrooms and the sitting rooms of donors, determined to make a difference in the lives of the chimpanzees she’d spent years with, but along the road, Goodall broadened JGI's scope to include educating and empowering young people interested in the planet they would one day inherit.