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Swiss university grants honorary doctorate to Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall
British primatologist Jane Goodall at the science museum CosmoCaixa in Barcelona, Spain (December 2018). Keystone / Enric Fontcuberta

The University of Zurich has awarded primatologist Jane Goodall an honorary doctorate in what marked its first digital ceremony.

The faculty of science honored Dr. Goodall “in recognition of her pioneering work in the behavioral sciences and primatology”.

Her research provided important information about wild chimpanzees, and she remains committed to protecting the animals, their habitats and the environment, the university noted in a press release.External link

Goodall is credited with discovering that chimps use tools and form complex societies just like humans, traits that hint at a common ancestry between the two species.

The virtual event was held to mark Zurich University’s 187th anniversary and featured a series of videos that people could follow from their homes. Academic events across the world have shifted online as result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Additional honorary doctorates were awarded to screenwriter Simone Schmid, film-maker Stefan Haupt, legal expert Heinz Mohnhaupt, labor economics specialist Claudia Goldin, historian Elisabeth Joris, and medical scientists Werner Bauer and Marcel Tanner.

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