London, UK - Congratulations are in order! The iconic naturalist David Attenborough is celebrating his 100th birthday on Friday.

David Attenborough is a leading voice on climate change and biodiversity loss, and his landmark documentaries transformed popular understanding of the natural world for a global audience.

Attenborough's natural history documentaries, like Life on Earth, brought the most remote corners of the planet into living rooms worldwide. "He's taken us all to places that we would never otherwise go. That's a huge gift," botanist Sandra Knapp, director of research at London's Natural History Museum, told AFP.

Jean-Baptiste Gouyon, professor of science communication at University College London, said Attenborough had made natural history as popular as soccer.

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Attenborough's work instilled an unparalleled passion and wonder for the natural world in the public, said Gouyon.

Prince William has described Attenborough as a "national treasure. The late Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1985.

Even Billie Eilish has praised Attenborough "deep love and knowledge of our planet."

Attenborough has often reflected on his "luck" in being able to "find and film rare creatures that few outsiders have seen in the wild."

Attenborough's broadcasting career, spanning nearly eight decades, has been closely associated with the BBC, which he joined in the early 1950s.

Life on Earth, released in 1979, has been watched by 500 million people worldwide, and dozens of documentaries and associated books have made him a household name.

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Recalling the series' highlight, when Attenborough unexpectedly found himself close and personal with a group of mountain gorillas, he described the experience as "bliss."

"I was simply transported," he said ahead of his 100th birthday. Attenborough's passion for the natural world began as a child, and he went on to study geology and zoology.

In 2006, David Attenborough also sounded the alarm on climate change and biodiversity loss. After waiting for conclusive proof that humanity was changing the climate. He declared himself "no longer sceptical."

In his 2025 film Ocean, he condemns the wealthy nations' industrial fishing methods, calling them "modern colonialism at sea."

Attenborough hopes humanity can change course. "Perhaps the fact that the people most affected by climate change are no longer some imagined future generation, but young people alive today... will give us the impetus we need to rewrite our story, to turn this tragedy into a triumph," he said at the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow in 2021.

"We are, after all, the greatest problem-solvers to have ever existed on Earth," he said.

At 100, Attenborough no longer wanders the world's jungles and deserts but continues to marvel over the natural world. In early 2026, he shared his awe of the wildlife of the British capital in Wild London, released on the BBC.

Despite his fame, the broadcaster has always refused to be seen as a celebrity. Gouyon said Attenborough always made sure to direct the viewer's gaze back to the subject matter.

Cheers to 100 years, David Attenbourgh!