Altmann, Jeanne

Abstract

Jeanne Altmann's attention to detail and remarkable sense of focus enabled her to overcome difficulties early in her career in order to give to science a wide‐ranging toolset, including her classic work on observational methods and behavioral sampling techniques. In addition, Jeanne's research, which highlighted the complex forces shaping female reproductive outcomes, profoundly changed a long‐held view that females were a homogenous group with little variation in reproductive success among them. Together with her husband Stuart, Jeanne founded what is now one of the longest longitudinal studies of nonhuman primates in the wild. The Amboseli Baboon Research Project has provided Jeanne, her students, and her collaborators the opportunity to understand how baboons navigate the challenges in their habitat, including predation and foraging, in a complex social milieu. Taken together, Jeanne's persistent commitment to the highest standards of methodological rigor and research quality embody her scientific vision, which has greatly advanced her field.