“Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) was the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. She authored four books: The Green Belt Movement; Unbowed: A Memoir; The Challenge for Africa; and Replenishing the Earth. As well as having been featured in a number of books, she and the Green Belt Movement were the subject of a documentary film, Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai (Marlboro Productions, 2008).
Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya (Africa), in 1940. She obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi, where she also taught veterinary anatomy. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.”
““Wangari Maathai.” Green Belt Movement, http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai. Accessed 12 Dec. 2021.
Accepting the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize 2004
Thirteen laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2021, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. Their work and discoveries range from the Earth’s climate and our sense of touch to efforts to safeguard freedom of expression. See them all presented here.
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
TakingRootFilm
“TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai” (2008) tells the story of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and its founder Wangari Maathai, the first environmen…
Links:
- Books written by Wangari Maathai
- Green Belt Movement
- Noble Prize speech