Beloved scientist Dr. Jane Goodall has passed away. She was 91.
The Jane Goodall Institute released a statement on Instagram, sharing that she died on Wednesday morning while in California on a speaking tour around the country. She was set to give a talk in LA on Friday. The statement expressed:
“The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute has passed away due to natural causes. She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States.”
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Praising her work, the Institute continued:
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
So very sad.
Jane last spoke at The Plaza Hotel in NYC just one week ago. In January, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
She was most famous for her work with chimpanzees as one of the world’s first female experts on primates. After connecting with archaeologist Louis Leakey in the late ’50s, he helped secure funding for Jane to attend University of Cambridge for her PhD in the ’60s — despite having no undergraduate degree. She then spent 60 years studying the animals in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park.
Through her research, the zoologist was the first researcher to determine primates use tools — breaking the previously believed assumption that only humans did so. She also studied how chimps exhibited emotions and personalities. Her work forever changed the way we view the animal kingdom — and she’s been credited with helping increase the amount of women in STEM.
Beyond her research, she was an accomplished author — writing books for both adults and children — and appeared in many documentaries, including in the acclaimed 2017 doc Jane. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, helping conservation and development efforts in Africa. The British primatologist was also an outspoken activist, urging folks to take action against the climate change crisis. Stevie Nicks even wrote the song Jane about her!
Jane was married to wildlife photographer Hugo van Lawick from 1964 to 1974 and to farmer Derek Bryceson from 1975 until he died in 1980. She leaves behind her son, Hugo, 58, who she shared with her first husband, and three grandchildren.
We’re sending our condolences to her loved ones. She will not be forgotten.
[Image via Oscar Gonzalez/WENN & National Geographic/YouTube]
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