Dian Fossey was an American zoologist, primatologist, and anthropologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by anthropologist Louis Leakey. Her 1983 book, Gorillas in the Mist, combines her scientific study of the mountain gorilla at Karisoke Research Center with her own personal story. It was adapted into a 1988 film. Fossey was murdered in 1985; the case remains open. Called one of the foremost primatologists in the world while she was alive, Fossey, along with Jane Goodall and Birut? Galdikas, were the so-called Trimates, a group of three prominent researchers on primates sent by Leakey to study great apes in their natural environments. 

January 16th, 1932 in San Francisco  /  Died:   Dec 26th, 1985