Dian Fossey (San Francisco 1932- Karisoke Research Center Rwanda 1985) American zoologist who dedicated her life to the conservation of the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and Congo. In the 1980s, the population of these animals was on the verge of extinction due to poachers. In 1983, she published Gorillas in the Mist, a book that describes her observations and her relationship with the gorillas in all her years of field studies. She was found in her hut, allegedly hacked to death by poachers with the support of the Rwandan authorities.