Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental and political activist
Wangari Maathai (Kenya in 1940-2011), was a Kenyan environmental and political activist.
In 1971, she became the first east African woman to receive a Ph.D. from what is now the University of Nairobi. This pioneering spirit was repeated twenty years later when she became the first Kenyan woman to receive the Goldman Environmental Prize for her conservation and tree planting efforts.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her contributions to sustainable development, democracy and peace. She was not only the first African woman to win the prize, but the first environmentalist from any country to win it.
