Contact:
Blue Magruder
617.496.3481
Harvard Museum of Natural History announces Jane Goodall as the 2007 Roger Tory Peterson Medal Recipient and Guest Speaker on Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.
Cambridge, Mass. - November 28, 2006 - Jane Goodall, world-renowned scientist and author will receive the 2007 Roger Tory Peterson Medal presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH). Goodall will deliver the Peterson Memorial Lecture on Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. in Memorial Hall's Sanders Theatre, Harvard University. A booksigning at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, will follow the lecture.
The HMNH inaugurated the Roger Tory Peterson Memorial Lecture in 1997 to keep alive the memory of the pioneering naturalist and author of the legendary Peterson Field Guide to Birds. This annual event celebrates and perpetuates Roger Tory Peterson's tireless efforts to conserve the planet's biological diversity. Past recipients of the medal have included E.O. Wilson, Jared M. Diamond, Paul R. Ehrlich, Bruce Babbitt, Richard Leakey, Peter Matthiessen, David Attenborough, Roger Bateman, and David Suzuki.
Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzees in Tanzania in June 1960, under the mentorship of famed anthropologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey. Her work at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve became the foundation of future primatological research and redefined the relationship between humans and animals. Among her greatest findings is the use of tools by chimpanzees, a behavior long believed to be unique to Homo sapiens.
In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). Today JGI is a global organization supporting the research at Gombe in addition to many other programs for research, education, community development and conservation programs.
In 2002, Goodall was invested by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a UN Messenger of Peace. Other honors include the Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize and the UNESCO 60th Anniversary Medal. In 2001, she received the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence and, in 2003, the Franklin Institute's Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life and Science and Spain's coveted Prince of Asturias Award. In February 2004, Goodall was awarded England's highest honor, Dame of the British Empire, at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, and in February 2006, she received France's highest honor, the Legion of Honor.
Admission to the Roger Tory Peterson Memorial Lecture is $9 for the general public and $5 for HMNH members and Harvard ID holders. Advance tickets are required. Tickets will be available from the Harvard Box Office (617-496-2222) beginning on February 27, 2007. Both Sanders Theatre and the HMNH are wheelchair accessible.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History is located at 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, a short walk from the Harvard Square T station. The Museum is handicapped accessible. For general information please call 617 495 3045 or visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
###
Major support for the 2007 Roger Tory Peterson Medal and Lecture is provided by Houghton Mifflin.