Australian botanist and ecologist who was influential in the early development of numerical methods in ecology, particularly the study of vegetation.
As of December 2016 Goodall was active, an honorary research associate at the Centre for Ecosystem Management at Edith Cowan University in Perth and Editor-in-Chief of the series Ecosystems of the World. He is thought to have been the oldest scientist still working in Australia as of January 2016.
In 2018, his vision had deteriorated so that he could not longer work. A heart attack left him partially immobilized. In May 2018, he planned to move to Switzerland for the purpose of ending his life there. Voluntary euthanasia in absence of a terminal illness is legal in Switzerland, but not in Australia. Goodall cited his own severely declining quality of life as the motivation for his decision to end his own. When asked by an Australian TV reporter for a statement on his birthday earlier in April 2018, his answer was: “I greatly regret having reached that age. I’m not happy. I want to die. It’s not sad particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented. My feeling is that an old person like myself should have full citizenship rights, including the right of assisted suicide.”
He ended his life with a self-administered lethal injection of Nembutal on 10 May 2018 at 12:30pm in Liestal while listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Link to Wikipedia biography