Jeanne Calment

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Jeanne Louise Calment

Calment celebrating her 121st birthday in 1996

February 21, 1875

Born
Arles, France

August 4, 1997 (122 years, 164 days)

Died
Arles, France

Longest confirmed lifespan since October 17,

1995
Known for
Oldest living person (February 14, 1991
August 4, 1997)

Fernand Calment (lived: 18681942,

Spouse
married: 18961942

Jeanne Louise Calment (French pronunciation: [an lwiz kalm ]; February 21,
1875 August 4, 1997)[1] had the longest confirmed human life span in history, living
to the age of 122 years, 164 days (44724 days total).[2] She lived in Arles, France, for
her entire life, and outlived both her daughter and grandson. She became especially
well known from the age of 113, when the centenary of Vincent van Gogh's visit
brought reporters to Arles. She entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1988, and on
October 17, 1995 she became the oldest person ever, having surpassed the (now
dubious) case of Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan. She became the last living documented
person born in the 1870s when the Japanese supercentenarian Tane Ikai (born 1879)
died on July 12, 1995; in total she outlived no less than 329 undisputedly verified
supercentenarians younger than her. Her life span has been thoroughly documented by
scientific study, with more records having been produced to verify her age than for
any other case. She is the only person ever to be confirmed beyond any doubt to have
reached 120 years of age.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 Biography
o 1.1 Recognition
2 Record breaking
3 Longevity records
4 Health and lifestyle
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
[edit] Biography

Calment at age 20 in 1895

Calment was born in Arles in 1875.[1] Her father, Nicolas, was a shipbuilder, and her
mother, Marguerite, was from a family of millers. Her close family members also
lived to an advanced age: her older brother, Franois, lived to the age of 97, her father
to 93, and her mother to 86. Calment claimed to have met Vincent van Gogh.[4][5] In
1896, at the age of 21, she married her second cousin (grandson of her great-uncle)
Fernand Nicolas Calment,[3] a wealthy store owner. His wealth made it possible for
Jeanne never to have to work; instead she led a leisured lifestyle, pursuing hobbies
such as tennis, cycling, swimming, rollerskating, piano and opera.[1] Her husband died
in 1942 at the age of around 73 or 74 after they both ate a dessert prepared with
spoiled cherries.[6] Their only child, a daughter named Yvonne, was born in 1898 and
produced a grandson, Frdric, born in 1926.[3] Calment outlived Yvonne, who died at
age 36 in 1934 from pneumonia, after which Jeannne raised Frdric herself.[7]
Frdric became a doctor, and she outlived him as well, since he died in an
automobile accident in 1960.[1] In 1965, aged 90 years and with no heirs, Calment
signed a deal to sell her former apartment to lawyer Andr-Franois Raffray, on a
contingency contract. Raffray, then aged 47 years, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of
2,500 francs until she died. Raffray ended up paying Calment the equivalent of more
than $180,000, which was more than double the apartment's value. After Raffray's
death from cancer at the age of 77, in 1995, his widow continued the payments until
Calment's death.[1]

Jeanne Calment, aged 22 years in 1897

[edit] Recognition

Calment at age 40 in 1915

In 1985, Calment moved into a nursing home, having lived on her own until age 110.
[1]
Her international fame escalated in 1988, when the centenary of Vincent van
Gogh's visit to Arles provided an occasion to meet reporters. She said at the time that
she had met Van Gogh 100 years before, in 1888, as a thirteen-year-old girl in her
uncle's fabric shop, where he wanted to buy some canvas, later describing him as
"dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable", and "very ugly, ungracious, impolite, sick".[1]
[7]
Calment recalled selling coloured pencils to Van Gogh, and seeing the Eiffel Tower
being built.[8] At the age of 114, she appeared briefly in the 1990 film Vincent and Me
as herself, making her the oldest person ever to appear in a motion picture.
A documentary film about her life, entitled Beyond 120 Years with Jeanne Calment, in
1995.[9] In 1996, Time's Mistress, a four-track CD of Calment speaking over a
background of rap, was released.[10] On her 122nd birthday on 21 February 1997, it
was announced that she would make no more public appearances, as her health had
seriously deteriorated. She died on 4 August of that same year.[9]
Both before and after Calment's death, there have been several claims to have
surpassed her age, but none of them have been proven. One of the most well known
cases from the past was Shirali Muslimov (reportedly 19 March 1800 2 September
1963) of Azerbaijan, who lived to the claimed age of 163 years, 167 days. Other
highly disputed cases of extreme longevity regarding people who are still living
include Tuti Yusupova (claimed born 1 July 1880) of Uzbekistan, who would be
currently at the alleged age of 131 years, 7 days, and Antisa Khvichava (claimed born
8 July 1880) of Georgia, who would currently be at the alleged age of 131 years,
0 days. Because their ages have not been proven, Calment continues to hold the
record as the "oldest verified person ever".
[edit] Record breaking
After her 1988 interview, at age 113, Calment was given the Guinness title "world's
oldest living person". However, in 1989, the title was withdrawn and given to Carrie
C. White of Florida, who was claimed to have been born in 1874, although this has
been disputed by subsequent census research.[11] On White's death on 14 February
1991, Calment, then a week shy of 116, became the oldest recognized living person.
[12]
On 17 October 1995 Calment reached 120 years and 238 days to become the
"oldest person ever" according to Guinness, surpassing Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan,
whose own claim (120 years 237 days old at the time of his death on 21 February
1986, Calment's 111th birthday) has also been subject to considerable doubt.[9] If the
cases of Shigechiyo Izumi and Carrie White are discounted, Calment is the first
person documented to reach 115 years of age. She is also the only person to have
indisputably lived for 120 years (and beyond).
Furthermore (if discounting the previously mentioned Shigechiyo Izumi and Carrie C.
White) Calment also holds the record for being the oldest living person for the longest
period of time, by far - with nearly nine years and seven months, counting from the
death of Florence Knapp on January 11, 1988, to her own death on August 4, 1997.
Calment broke the record for longest confirmed lifespan (previously held by Anna
Eliza Williams, who died at age 114 years 208 days, in 1987) by nearly eight years.
Breaking a previous record for age by that amount was, in itself, a record. Before
Calment, the only person who had surpassed a former longest confirmed lifespan with
more than one year, was Delina Filkins who became the first 113-year-old in 1928.
Filkins surpassed the by then longest confirmed lifespan with just over two years.
Following Calment's death on 4 August 1997 at 10:45 CET, then 116-year-old Marie-
Louise Meilleur became the oldest living recognized person.[12] As well as being the
world's oldest person and the last living person to have met Vincent van Gogh,
Calment was the world's last documented living link with the 1870s.[9]
[edit] Longevity records
On 20 June 1986, Eugnie Roux died, and Calment, 111 years 119 days,
became the Doyenne de France.
On 27 December 1987, Anna Eliza Williams died, Calment 112 years 310
days, became the oldest person in Europe
On 11 January 1988, Florence Knapp died, Calment, 112 years 324 days,
became the world's oldest undisputed living person.
On 17 September 1989, Calment, 114 years 209 days, surpassed Anna Eliza
Williams as the oldest undisputed person ever.
On 21 February 1990, Calment became the first undisputed person
documented to reach age 115.
 On 30 May 1994, Calment was 119 years and 98 days old - an age no other
person has since reached.
On 12 July 1995, Tane Ikai died, and Calment became the last living link from
the 1870s.
On October 17, 1995, Calment became the oldest verified person ever, having
surpassed the (now dubious) case of Shigechiyo Izumi.
On 4 August 1997, Calment died, aged 122 years 164 days, and Marie-Louise
Meilleur became the oldest living person.
[edit] Health and lifestyle
Calment's remarkable health presaged her later record. At age 85, she took up fencing,
and continued to ride her bicycle up until her 100th birthday. She was reportedly
neither athletic, nor fanatical about her health.[8] Calment lived on her own until
shortly before her 110th birthday, when it was decided that she needed to be moved to
a nursing home after a cooking accident (she was having complications with sight)
started a small fire in her flat. However, Calment was still in good shape, and was able
to walk until she fractured her femur during a fall at age 114 years and 11 months,
which required surgery.[3][13] After her operation, Calment needed to use a wheelchair.
She weighed 45 kilograms (99 lb) in 1994.[14] Calment became ill with influenza
shortly before her 116th birthday.[15] She smoked until the age of 117, only five years
before her death.[1][15] Calment smoked from the age of 21 (1896), though according to
an unspecified source, she smoked no more than two cigarettes per day.[16]
She ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to olive oil,
which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet
of port wine, and ate nearly one kilo of chocolate every week.[10]
[edit] See also
Ageing
Arles
List of French supercentenarians
List of the verified oldest people
Longevity claims
Longevity myths
Maximum life span
Oldest people
Senescence
Supercentenarian
[edit] References
1. ^ a b c d e f g h Whitney, Craig R. (5 August 1997). "Jeanne Calment, World's Elder,
Dies at 122". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9C01E7D7113DF936A3575BC0A961958260. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
2. ^ The Guinness Book of Records, 1999 edition, p.102, ISBN 0-85112-070-9.
3. ^ a b c d "Validation of Exceptional Longevity Jeanne Calment: Validation of the
Duration of Her Life". Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/odense/6/09.htm. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
4. ^ "World's oldest person dead". McCook Daily Gazette (Paris: Google Search): p. 1.
Aug 4, 1997. http://news.google.com/newspapers?
id=VqEgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7GgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6026%2C3313956. Retrieved 5 May
2011.
5. ^ http://www.wilsonsalmanac/book/fed21.html
 6. ^ "MILESTONES". Time. 18 August 1997.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986874,00.html. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
7. ^ a b "World's oldest person dies at 122". CNN. 4 August 1997.
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/04/obit.oldest/. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
8. ^ a b "World's oldest person marks 120 beautiful, happy years". News.google.com. 21
February 1995. http://news.google.com/newspapers?
id=CL4RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jOwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1584,3192209. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
9. ^ a b c d "Tribute to Jeanne Calment, memorial Lasting tribute". Lasting Tribute.
http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/tribute/calment/2603938. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
10. ^ a b "Believed to be world's oldest, woman in France dies at 122". Houston
Chronicle. 4 August 1997. http://supercentenarian.com/oldest/jeanne-calment.html. Retrieved
5 August 2008.
11. ^ Addy, Ronda (25 May 2008). "Life expectancy". Sun Journal.
http://www.sunjournal.com/index.php?t=8&storyid=267178&subpub=118. Retrieved 6
August 2008.
12. ^ a b "The Oldest Human Beings". Recordholders.org.
http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/oldest.html#3. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
13. ^ Addy, Ronda (25 May 2008). "Life expectancy". Sun Journal.
http://www.sunjournal.com/index.php?t=8&storyid=267178&subpub=118. Retrieved 6
August 2008.
14. ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?
id=ju8VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1xMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4055,2921498
15. ^ a b [1][dead link]
16. ^ An Exceptional Case of Human Longevity, Jeanne Calment. New Orleans:
Gerontological Society of America. 23 November 1993.
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/courses/hde19/lecture3.html.
[edit] Further reading
Allard, Michel; Lebre, Victor; Robine, Jean-Marie; Calment, Jeanne (1998).
Jeanne Calment: From Van Gogh's Time to Ours : 122 Extraordinary Years. New
York: W.H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-3251-3.
Robine, Jean-Marie; Allard, Michel (1999). Jeune, Bernard; Vaupel, James W.
(eds). ed. Jeanne Calment: Validation of the Duration of Her Life. Validation of
Exceptional Longevity. Odense University Press. ISBN 87-7838-466-4.
[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jeanne Calment

Jeanne Calment at the Internet Movie Database

Image gallery of Jeanne Calment from aged 20 to aged 122

Records

Preceded
Anna Eliza W

Preceded
Shigechiyo
(dispute

Preceded
Carrie C. W
(dispute
 Preceded
Anna Eliza W

Preceded
Eugenie R

[hide]v d eOldest person in the world since 1955

Betsy Baker Martha Graham Mary Kelly Elizabeth Kensley William Fullingim
Hannah Smith John Mosely Turner Johanna Booyson Marie Berntkov Ada
Roe Josefa Salas Mateo Alice Stevenson Elizabeth Watkins Mito Umeta Niwa
Kawamoto Shigechiyo Izumi Mamie Eva Keith Mary McKinney Anna Eliza
Williams Florence Knapp Carrie C. White Jeanne Calment Marie-Louise
Meilleur Sarah Knauss Eva Morris Marie Brmont Maude Farris-Luse Kamato
Hongo Mitoyo Kawate Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan Mara Capovilla
Elizabeth Bolden Emiliano Mercado del Toro Emma Tillman Yone Minagawa
Edna Parker Maria de Jesus Gertrude Baines Kama Chinen Eugnie Blanchard
Maria Gomes Valentim Besse Cooper

See also Ageing Oldest people List of the verified oldest people

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment"

Categories: 1875 births | 1997 deaths | French Christians | French supercentenarians |
People from Arles | World record holders
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