Jane Goodall
When Jane Goodall was about eight years old, the Dr. Doolittle story inspired her dream of living in Africa and writing about wild animals. Many years later, she saved her waitressing tips, left London, and sailed to Africa on the Kenya Castle. Jane did this despite the fact that while she was waiting tables, most people told her she was crazy. Why would someone want to work in Africa? Luckily, her mom believed in her, and said If you work hard enough, take advantage of every opportunity, and never give up, you will find a way. Today, Jane still lives by her mom's words.
Once on African soil, Jane was faced with the prospect of finding work in a foreign and intimidating culture. She dug in her heels and in 1957, she was hired by the world-famous anthropologist and archaeologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Leakey liked that she was patient, an independent thinker, and lived simply. These traits all came in handy during the six years she spent studying the chimps at the Gombe Stream chimpanzee reserve, where she lived in a tent with her mother. Every day, they braved the threat of malaria, cobras, insects, and thieving baboons.
One afternoon, while studying chimpanzees on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Africa, Jane saw David Graybeard, one of her favorite chimps, using a grass stem to poke a termite mound to dig out the insects for his lunch. She also saw chimps stripping down twigs to make tools. Who cares, right? Keep in mind that at this time, scientists generally felt that what separated humans from chimps was that we mad and used tools. Chimps did not. Jane, a woman in her twenties, with no college degree at the time (she couldn't afford it), had just shredded that theory.
Excerpted from the book Cool Women with permission of publisher, Girl Press.
Learn More About Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall Institute
http://www.janegoodall.org/jane/jane_bio_day.html
Read about Jane Goodall's life and the activities of the JGI, the group she founded and works with, with pictures, video and stories of past and ongoing explorations, including youth programs.
National Geographic Biography
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eir/bio_goodall.html
Read about her work at National Geographic, as an explorer-in-residence.
Scientific American Profile
http://www.sciam.com/1097issue/1097profile.html
Read Scientific American's profile of Jane for more information on her contributions to science.
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