
Biography
Dame Jane Morris Goodall DBE (born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall, 3 April 1934 – 1 October 2025), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, was an English primatologist and anthropologist. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall was best known for her 55+ year study of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania.
Awards & recognition
- Presidential Medal of Freedom · 2025
- honorary degree · 2024
- Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau · 2023
- Templeton Prize · 2021
- honorary doctor of the University of Zurich · 2020
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- honorary doctorate of Hasselt University · 2020
- honorary doctor of the University of Madrid Complutense · 2018
- International Cosmos Prize · 2017
- Catalonia International Prize · 2015
- President's Medal · 2014
- Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic · 2011
- Honorary doctorate from University of Toronto · 2007
- Officer of the Legion of Honour · 2006
- honorary doctor of Syracuse University · 2005
- Nierenberg Prize · 2004
- Benjamin Franklin Medal · 2003
- Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire · 2003
- Princess of Asturias Award — Technical and Scientific Research · 2003
- Huxley Memorial Medal · 2002
- Tyler Prize — Environmental Achievement · 1997
- William Procter Prize — Scientific Achievement · 1996
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire · 1995
- Hubbard Medal · 1995
- honorary doctor of the University of Miami · 1993
- Edinburgh Medal · 1991
- Gold Medal of the Society of Woman Geographers · 1990
- Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences · 1990
- Gregor Mendel Medal · 1987
- J. Paul Getty Award — Conservation Leadership · 1984
- Austrian Decoration — Science and Art
- Genesis Award
- honorary doctor of the University of Alicante
- honorary doctorate of Haifa University
- Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- Order of the British Empire
- Order of the Golden Ark
- Princess of Asturias Awards
- Silver Medal of the Zoological Society of London
Filmography34 titles

A Life Among Elephants

Milked

Attenborough at 90

The Simpsons

Nature

Racing Extinction

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Jane

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Surviving Progress

Natural World

Horizon

Animal

Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall: The Hope

National Geographic Specials

The Wild Thornberrys

Time to Choose

Earth Emergency

StarTalk

Jane's Journey

60 Minutes

The Kelly Clarkson Show

The Daily Show

Seed: The Untold Story

Medicine of the Wolf

The Last Tourist

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Real Time with Bill Maher

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Dear...

Gutsy

Humans and Other Animals

The Center: Gibbons and Guardians