Goodall started her career with a phone call when she was only 23. Without credentials or training, she convinced paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey to support her expedition to Tanzania, where she observed chimpanzees. Her completed research burst her into public view in 1963, when she was 29. She brought new information to light about the rich lives of the animals, enabling the public to understand their depth of emotion and intelligence, their relationships, their mating and birthing rituals, and more. She even applied what she learned from the chimps to her own parenting, she said.
“At the time, I wanted to do the things which men did and women didn’t. You know, going to Africa, living with animals. That’s all I ever thought about,” Goodall said, per the WSJ.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bloomberg Philanthropies
At the time, the fields of primatology, ethology, anthropology, and all of science were incredibly male-dominated. But here’s what stood out to me: Goodall opened the door so strongly, so permanently that the field of primate behavior research became dominated by women. Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas, Cheryl Knott, and Penny Patterson all followed in Goodall’s footsteps. It’s the truest, least cliché example of “if you can see it, you can be it.”
In the decades since, Goodall has continued to inspire generations of women—through her advocacy for conservation, the young girls mesmerized by her story, and even a Barbie doll. She always brought that back to her guiding purpose: the world around us. “I sincerely hope that it will help to create more interest and fascination in the natural world,” she said.
Goodall changed our understanding of the animals we live alongside on this planet, she got generations of girls interested in science and the natural world, and she transformed the field she brought into the public eye. I can’t think of a more inspiring legacy.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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