A supercentenarian
(sometimes hyphenated super-centenarian) is someone who has reached
the
age of 110
years or more, something achieved by only one in a thousand
centenarians (0.1%, based on European data). In turn, only about
one supercentenarian in fifteen lives to turn 114.
The term has been
around at least since the
1970s (as one citation,
Norris McWhirter, editor of Guinness, used the word in
correspondence with age claims researcher
A. Ross Eckler, Jr. in
1976), and was further popularized in
1991 by
William Strauss and
Neil Howe, in their book entitled
Generations. Early references tend to mean simply "someone
well over 100" but the 110-and-over cutoff is the accepted criterion
of
demographers.
Over eight hundred
supercentenarians have been documented in history, and this is
doubtless a fraction of the number who have really lived, but the
majority of claims to this age do not have sufficient documentary
support to be validated. This is slowly changing as those born after
birth registration was standardized in more countries and parts of
countries attain supercentenarian age.
The longest
documented lifespan is the 122 years 164 days of
Jeanne Calment (1875–1997). While her stories of meeting
Vincent Van Gogh or attending the 1885 funeral of
Victor Hugo might have been embellished, her life was documented
in the records of her native city of
Arles,
France, beyond reasonable doubt.
The
Guinness Book of World Records in 1978 accepted the claim that
Shigechiyo Izumi was born
June 29,
1865, and from the
1980 edition considered him the oldest person. He died
February 21,
1986 (the 111th birthday of Jeanne Calment). However, there is
still doubt as to whether he was wrongly conflated with a brother
who died young.
For
supercentenarians known for anything other than their extreme age,
see
centenarians.
August 30, 2005; Mrs. Hendrikje
van Andel-Schipper died today at age 115 in Hoogeveen, Netherlands.
She held the title of the world's oldest person for 15 months. Mr.
Johan Beijering, Nursing Home Director said that "she was very clear
mentally right up to the end
She said, 'It's been nice, but the
man upstairs says it's time to go.'" She once said that the
automobile was the greatest technological advance in her lifetime,
despite the fact that she never learned to drive and preferred
riding her bicycle. She agreed to be autopsied by the University of
Groningen in The Netherlands to help scientists learn more about
longevity. Mrs. Elizabeth Jones Bolden of Memphis, TN, age 115, is
her successor as our World's newest Oldest Person.
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