What Killed the Oldest Man Ever?
A case report details the cause of death of Jiroemon Kimura, the oldest man ever, who died at 116 years of age
Happy birthday
A few days ago, the oldest person in the world, the Japanese Kane Tanaka, celebrated her 119th birthday. She’s looking forward to number 120.
That’s still a few years away from the all-time longevity record held by the French Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the ripe old age of 122 years and 164 days.
(Note: Jeanne is the oldest person who had her age independently verified. there are other claims out there, but those have not been sufficiently validated.)
(Note 2: The claim that Jeanne was actually Jeanne’s daughter has been debunked and her age is generally considered scientifically supported.)
If we look at the list of oldest people whose age has been verified (at the time of writing), the top 20 is all female. It’s only at place 21 that we find the Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura, who died in 2013 at the age of 116 years and 54 days.
We don’t know what the biological limits to human lifespan are. At the moment, of course, it’s Jeanne’s 122 years and 164 days. But is that it? Barring radical improvements in anti-aging…
