World-renowned scientist and author Dr. Jane Goodall received the 2007 Roger Tory Peterson Medal presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH) and delivered the Peterson Memorial Lecture entitled “A Reason for Hope in a Complex World.” Jane Goodall, Ph.D, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace, began her landmark study of chimpanzees in Tanzania in June 1960 under the mentorship of anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Her work at what was then called the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve became the foundation of primatological research and redefined the relationship between humans and animals. In 1971, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. The Institute also is widely recognized for establishing innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and the Roots & Shoots education program which has 8,000 groups in 96 countries. Dr. Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth. She continually urges her audiences to recognize their personal responsibility and ability to effect change through consumer action, lifestyle change and activism.