I knew about Goodall for a long time. I guess she was on a podcast or documentary that I've consumed.
I found this comment by Evanb on HN very interesting:
If you find Jane Goodall inspirational, you may be delighted to learn about Anne Innis Dagg [0], whose studies of wild giraffe predates Goodall's study of chimps. The documentary "The Woman Who Loves Giraffes" [1] is fantastic and has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The reason you might not know Dagg's name is essentially that she was denied tenure for being a woman.[0]
[1]