1. Icon: Jane Goodall
Inspiration
Jane Goodall (1934 --) is a primatologist, anthropologist and conservationist, famous for her studies on chimpanzees in Africa in 1960s. She achieved several groundbreaking findings, which made her one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century.
Why does she inspire me? At the age of 26, with no prior experience and no scientific education, she accepted to live nearly 2 years in Tanzania to study chimps’ behaviour and brought to light previously unknown discoveries on their individuality, personality and emotions. In 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, a nongovernmental organization devoted to protecting habitat and environment. She believes in the power of future generations to protect the planet and encourages young girls to pursue science. She also wrote books, articles, worked as a professor and she is among the few persons in the history of universities to enter a doctorate program without a previous degree. Plus, she is freaking 85 years old and she keeps traveling and fighting for her cause. What more?
She inspired me when I was a child and keeps inspiring me today, not only for her respect for every form of living being, for her perseverance, and for her scientific skills, but also, and perhaps, above all, for her amazing capacity to step out of her comfort zone, over and over again – which is what I aim at as well.
