On Oct. 1, pioneering primatologist Jane Goodall passed away at the age of 91. Her discoveries forever changed how we understand both chimpanzees and our own place in the natural world.
As literary critic Alexander Gavrilov wrote to Novaya Gazeta, Goodall broke down barriers — between species, between humans and chimpanzees, and between the observer and the observed.
Before Goodall, most scientists studied animals from a distance — often in zoos, removed from their natural habitats. Goodall did the opposite: she went into the forests of Tanzania to live among the chimpanzees themselves.
Breaking the human–animal divide