Chimpanzees would quietly disappear into the undergrowth of Africa's Gombe jungle when a 23-year-old "white ape" named Jane Goodall began studying them in 1960.

Eventually, the chimps became as curious about Goodall as she was of them and they approached her without fear.

Animals of the human variety were slow to come around too, but in the post-Sept. 11 world, Goodall has attracted record numbers of people to her lectures worldwide.

Goodall, the world's leading authority on chimpanzees, drew more than 1,500 people to the Recreation Center on Oct. 28, when she delivered the keynote address to open the Albert Schweitzer Institute's conference "Reverence for Life Revisited: Albert Schweitzer's Relevance Today."

"There's no one in the world that could get a crowd like this on a Friday night at a university campus anywhere in America," Quinnipiac President John Lahey told Goodall, a scientist, environmental advocate, peace activist, author and dame of the British Empire.

Scientists and natural history buffs have always attended Goodall's lectures to hear stories of her life-long adventure and research. But the public comes in greater numbers today for her message of hope.

Goodall delivered her message of hope, but not without first explaining man's downfall.

"Isn't it tragic that, as well as all the wonderful ways in which we've used our intellect, we've also used it to create weapons of mass destruction, atomic weapons, biological warfare weapons, chemical warfare? We use it to destroy ... It's really dark and a dangerous world, and it needs, more than ever before, responsible stewards," she said.

There is ethnic violence, famine and threat of nuclear conflagration. Global warming is real, and at the very least human actions are hastening the natural process, she said.

"We're destroying the very planet which gives us life, which has nurtured our evolution, which is our only hope," she said.

Goodall said there are wars and poverty and greed because there is "a disconnect between this extraordinary (human) brain and the heart of compassion.

"Albert Schweitzer had some things to say about that," she added. He said, 'Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile. We are behaving like an imbecile. Only imbeciles destroy their nest.' He also said, "if we think about the disconnect between the brain and the heart where human compassion lies, compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to man alone."

Lahey said Goodall has been a great supporter of the Albert Schweitzer Institute. Goodall is a member of the institute's honorary board of directors and came to the campus in 1993 to deliver an address for the dedication of the Albert Schweitzer facilities.

"Dr. Schweitzer was and is viewed as one of the greatest persons of the 20th century. He took an unusual path to fame, becoming world famous for his humanity by caring for and about others," David Taylor Ives, executive director of the Schweitzer Institute.

Schweitzer was one of the few and first Europeans to go to Africa with the intent of alleviating suffering instead of exploiting its vast resources and its people," Ives said.

Goodall's journey to Africa began in her childhood yard in England, where she became curious about how hens laid eggs and pretended to understand animal languages.

"I would interpret the conversations of squirrels and dogs for my friends and they believed me," Goodall said.

Now she speaks to humans about responsibility and reasons for hope.

"Of course there's hope. But I don't think it lies with politicians or the captains of commerce. It lies with us ... We don't have much time so we all have to jump into the act, roll up our sleeves, get out there and do our bit, knowing that the bits will add up to something huge that nothing can stop," Goodall said.

Many people purchased Goodall's books, among them "Reasons for Hope," "The Chimpanzees I Love," Africa in My Blood" and "In the Shadow of Man." And hundreds waited in a long line that snaked around the Recreation Center for the chance to meet Goodall and have her autograph books and posters.

David T. Ives with conference panelists Luis Alberto Cordero, executive director of the Arias Foundation, Goodall, and Jonathan Granoff, executive director of the Global Security Institute.	Adjunct Biology Professor Kristen Richardson has a book signed by Goodall.
Rebecca Abbott, who co-produced a documentary on Albert Schweitzer's life, greets Mary Lewis from the Jane Goodall Institute in Maryland. That's Goodall in the background.	Goodall with Donna Pruett '83, and her husband, David '72, '85.
Rhena Schweitzer Miller greets Goodall and Ives.