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Jeanne Louise Calment (February 21 1875 – August 4 1997) has the longest confirmed lifespan in history at 122 years and 164 days. Her lifespan has been thoroughly documented by scientific study.

Biography

Born in Arles, she was 14 when the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889, and had an extremely active life, even taking up fencing at age 85, and was still riding a bicycle at age 100. Her brother, François, lived to the age of 97, her father, Nicolas, 93, and her mother, Marguerite, 86.

She married her second cousin, Fernand Calment (2 November 1868 – 1942), on 8 April 1896. They were married for 46 years. She also outlived her daughter, Yvonne, who died in 1934, and her grandson, Frédéric, a medical doctor, who died in 1963 in a motorcycle accident.

Unlucky deal for Raffray

In 1965, aged 90, with no living heirs, Jeanne Calment signed a deal, common in France, to sell her condominium apartment en viager to lawyer François Raffray. Raffray, then aged 47, agreed to pay a monthly sum until she died, an agreement sometimes called a "reverse mortgage". At the time of the deal the value of the apartment was equal to ten years of payments. Unfortunately for Raffray, not only did she survive more than thirty years, but he died first, in December 1995, of cancer, at the age of 77. His widow had to continue the payments.

Recognition

In 1985, Calment moved into a nursing home, having lived on her own until age 110. However, she did not gain international fame until 1988, when the centenary of Van Gogh's visit to Arles provided an occasion to meet reporters. She said that at age 14, she met Vincent van Gogh in her father's shop, later describing him as "dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable." She also reported attending the 1885 funeral of Victor Hugo.

At the age of 114, she appeared briefly in the film Vincent and Me as herself, making her the oldest actress ever. A French-language documentary film about her life, entitled Beyond 120 Years with Jeanne Calment, was released in 1995. In 1996, the nursing home where she lived released a CD Time's Mistress. It featured her reminiscing, set to rap and other tunes. She was also a smoker and only quit when she was 117 years old, because, nearly blind, she felt embarrassed to ask for a light. She was the last recognized surviving person of the 1870s.

Assignment of record

After her 1988 interview, at age 113, Calment was given the Guinness Records' "world's oldest person" title. She is first mentioned in the Guinness Records publication of 1989, in new claims at the end. 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.

On the death of White on February 14, 1991, Calment, then a week shy of 116, became the oldest recognized living person. On October 17, 1995 Calment reached 120 years and 238 days to become the Guinness "oldest person ever", surpassing Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan, whose own claim is also subject to some doubt.

If the questionable cases of Shigechiyo Izumi and Carrie White are discounted, Calment is the first person documented to reach 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121 and 122 years old. She is the only person to have undisputedly lived at least 120 years. For information on competing, but unsuccessfully verified claims of longevity: see longevity claims.

Following her death on August 4 1997, Marie-Louise Meilleur of Canada became the oldest recognized person in the world.

Health status

Jeanne Calment's remarkable health presaged her later record. At age 85, she took up fencing. At 100, she was still riding a bicycle. Jeanne lived on her own until shortly before her 110th birthday, when her cooking caused an accidental fire in her apartment and it was decided that she needed to be moved to a nursing home. However, Jeanne was still in good shape, and was able to walk until a fall at age 114 years 11 months. Jeanne survived a hip operation in January 1990 to become the oldest verified surgery patient. Although confined to a wheelchair afterward, Jeanne remained talkative and received frequent visitors until her 122nd birthday, at which time it was finally decided that her health status had declined and warranted privacy. Indeed, it was said by Jean-Marie Robine that this 'allowed her to die' because the attention had kept her going. Jeanne Calment died five months later.

Quotes

• "J'ai été oubliée par le Bon Dieu!" ("I have been forgotten by the Good Lord!")
• "I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I'm very lucky."
• "I've only got one wrinkle, and I'm sitting on it."
• "Wine, I'm in love with that."
• "A very short one." Asked on her 120th birthday what kind of future she would expect to have.
• "I mean, I was over the hill a hundred years ago."

See also

• Aging
• Senescence
• Lifespan
• Supercentenarian

References

• Allard, Michel. 1998. Jeanne Calment: from Van Gogh's time to ours, 122 extraordinary years. New York: WH Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-3251-3.
• Robine, Jean-Marie and Allard, Michel. 1999. "Jeanne Calment: Validation of the Duration of Her Life", in Validation of Exceptional Longevity, Bernard Jeune and James W. Vaupel, eds. Odense University Press. ISBN 87-7838-466-4

External link

• Her lifespan

• French supercentenarians
• World record holders
• 1875 births
• 1997 deaths