Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental activist and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization that focuses on tree planting, environmental conservation, and women's rights. Her work aimed to combat deforestation and promote sustainable development in Kenya and beyond. Maathai was born on April 1, 1940, in Nyeri, Kenya. She earned a degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and later became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate. Throughout her life, she advocated for democracy, human rights, and environmental sustainability.