RIP Dr Jane Goodall
DoS joins the mourning that is moving through the scientific community today. Dr. Jane Goodall has passed away while in the United States on a speaking tour. There are not enough words to describe the imprint she has left: she revolutionised ethology with her research at Gombe, forever changing the way we study and respect non-human life. What she discovered shook our idea of the place of human beings in the world. Jane showed us that chimpanzees use tools, form bonds, and experience emotions; she compelled science to redefine the concept of “man,” bridging the—cultural and moral—distance between us and the rest of creation. Her discoveries transformed primatology and helped shape global conservation policy.
There is also a legacy, often unspoken yet fundamental: the field. When she entered the forest, she was mocked and opposed by colleagues who could hardly imagine that a young woman might “bring anything of importance” to science. She stood alone on the ground and proved them wrong.
Today, thanks in part to her, women go into the field: they measure, take notes, and sample; they lead expeditions, deploy data loggers, and return at night with notebooks soaked by rain and filled with data. What was once deemed “unsuitable” for them has become home, work, leadership. It is a victory that honors science and makes society fairer.
Together with Dian Fossey (1932–1985) and Birutė Galdikas (1946–), the renowned Trimates, Jane opened new paths in primate studies and in the role of women scientists, showing that curiosity, rigor, and compassion can change the world.
Today we bid her farewell with gratitude: for the science she gave us, for the hope she sowed, for the invitation—never shouted, always steady—to choose kindness every day.
Thank you, Jane. We will keep working so that your message stays alive: in forests, in classrooms, in the field, in the hands of all those who do science.
