|
|
|
Centenarian
A centenarian is a person who has attained the age of 100 years or more. The term is associated with longevity due to the fact that average life expectancies across the world are far from 100. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more.
Reaching an old age has fascinated people for ages. According to the Bible, Methuselah lived to be 969 years old (Genesis 5:27). Today some maintain that the unusually high longevity of Biblical patriarchs are the result of an error in translation: lunar cycles were mistaken for the solar ones, and the actual ages are 13.5 times less. This gives 72 years for Methuselah, which is still an impressive number, bearing in mind the life expectancy of these times. This rationalization, however, seems doubtful to since patriarchs such as Mahalalel (ibid 5:15) and Enoch (ibid 5:21) were said to have become fathers after 65 "years." If the lunar cycle claim were accepted this would translate to an age of about 4 years and 10 months. Another Christian apologist claim is that the life span of humans has changed; originally man was to have everlasting life--had he eaten of the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden. Due to man's sin, however, God shortened man's life--first to less than 1000 years; then to less than 500 years; then to less than 200 years; then to 120 years (at the time of Moses, the bringer in of the law). These were the "four falls of mankind." Others note that age exaggeration tends to be greater in "mythical" periods in many cultures; the early emperors of Japan or China often ruled for more than a century, according to tradition. With the advent of record-keeping, age claims fell to realistic levels; even in the Bible we see King David, aged 70 years; other kings were in their 30's, 40's, and 50's.
Some of the (nonapocryphal) claimants to longevity records are (see also: "Known for attaining high age" below):
Japan currently has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, numbering over 20,000 in the year 2005. Many experts attribute this (and Japan's very high life expectancy) to the Japanese diet, which is particularly low in fats. Japanese centenarians receive a silver cup and a certificate from the Prime Minister of Japan upon their 100th birthday, honouring them for their longevity and prosperity in their lives. September 15th was subsequently named "National Respect for the Aged Day" , a national holiday in Japan.
In the United States, centenarians traditionally receive a letter from the president upon reaching their 100th birthday, congratulating them for their longevity. Willard Scott of NBC's Today show has also named them on air since 1983. In the United Kingdom, the Queen sends greetings (formerly as a telegram) on the 100th birthday and on every birthday starting with the 105th.
Among Hindus, people who touch the feet of elders are often blessed with "May you live a hundred years". In Poland, Sto lat, a wish to live a hundred years, is a traditional form of praise and good wishes; the Jewish tradition, however, is more ambitious, "May you live as long as Moses", or 120 years. Chinese emperors were hailed to live ten thousand years.
Were there Centenarians in Ancient Times?
Click for a table of 39 famous classical Greek Philosophers and Statesmen who are known to have survived past the age of 70, at least some of whom did go on to become Centenarians. While the density of centenarians per capita was much less in(civilized) ancient times than today, the data suggest that age 100 was not impossible then. While ancient demographics are biased in favor of wealthy or powerful individuals rather than the ordinary person, it is unscientific to suggest that "ordinary persons" lived longer. Grmek and Gourevitch speculate that during the Classical Greek Period, anyone who made it past the age of 5 years -- surviving all the common childhood illness of that day --had a reasonable chance of living to a ripe old age. [Life expectancy at 400 B.C. was estimated to be around 30 years of age.] One demographer of ancient civilizations reported that Greek men lived to 45 years (based on a sample size of 91), while women lived to 36.2 years (based on a sample size of 55). Curiously, the gender statistics are inverted compared to today, since child-birth was a much more traumatic experience at that time than now, and it certainly skewed female statistics downward. Also recall that it was common for average citizens to take great care in their hygiene (sanitation), Mediterranean diet (fish, figs, olive oil, wine, etc.), and exercise program (sports/gymnasium), although I suspect that there was a lot more male trauma per capita than today and that biased the statistics for men downward. [Ref. Mirko Grmek and Danielle Gourevitch, Illness in Antiquity (Fayard; 1998).]
The "bottom line" is that there is no reason to believe that there couldn't have been a few men/women in a population of 2,500 years ago who were centenarians, even if they weren't commonplace. [Source for Table: Olivier Postel-Vinay, "Histoire Le Cas de la Grece Antique," La Recherche Special -- Vivre 120 Ans, Vol. 322, p. 90 (Paris; July-August 1999). Note: La Recherche is the French equivalent of Scientific American in the English-speaking world.]
The Huffington Center on Aging at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston is another interesting source for information about Centenarians.
As reported on the font cover of USA Today (August 24, 1999), The U.S. Census Bureau forecasts that the number of Americans age 100 or older will increase by more than 22 times the 1990 estimate of 37,306. In October 2001, the US Census Bureau actually reported that there were 50,454 US Centenarians (a more reasonable 35 percent increase) out of a total population of 281.4 million Americans. But by 2050, "the number of US centenarians is expected to reach 834,000 and maybe even 1 million," said Dr. Robert Butler, President of the International Longevity Center in New York City.
From present data, the number of worldwide Centenarians is around 450,000. However, if one considers only the total number of Supercentenarians (by definition, persons surviving to >= 110 years) this number falls dramatically to around 30 worldwide (See details below). To our knowledge, there are no living persons older than 120; despite the fact that there are a large number of pretenders from foreign countries, these claimants have never been rigorously validated by means of the sort of documentation that would be sufficient to prove their claim (Birth Certificates, Baptismal Certificates, Marriage Certificates, and so forth). But also, recall that the art of "record keeping" was never rigorous before the age of data processing. Persons born at home in rural areas were frequently lucky if they had a family Bible to record the event let alone the correct spelling of the parents names, their ages at the time, etc.
Other highlights form the 2000 Census Report include the following:
1. The most populous state in the nation, California, has the largest number of centenarian residents, 5,341 or 0.016 percent of its population; 2. The state with the largest percentage of centenarians is South Dakota, where 0.0033 percent of residents were 100 or over. South Dakota was followed by Iowa and the District of Columbia; 3. Of the five-year age groups, the [50-to-54] category had the largest increase, up 55 percent to 17.6 million, thanks to the "Baby Boomers"; 4. While women still outnumber men at older ages, the gender ratio in the [65-and-over] category increased from 67 men per 100 women in 1990 to 70 men per 100 women in 2000.
List of centenarians
Here is a list of well-known centenarians (with supercentenarians emphasized strongly). This list is divided into sub-lists, according to how the centenarian became well known.
Activists/non-profit leaders
Actors/filmmakers/entertainers
Artists
Authors/poets/journalists
-
Ba Jin (1904-Living), Chinese author
-
Arthur Judson Brown (1856-1963)
-
Fulgence Charpentier (1897-2001), Canadian journalist and columnist
-
Nirad Chaudhuri (1897-1999)
-
Eve Curie LaBouisse (1904-Living), author of biography of her mother Marie Curie
-
Geoffrey Dearmer (1893-1996)
-
The Delany Sisters (1889-1999; 1891-1995)
-
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998)
-
Richard Eberhart (1904-Living), Pulitzer-Prize winning poet
- Juan Filloy (1894-2000), Argentine writer
-
Dorothy Frooks (1896-1997)
-
Gregorio Fuentes (1897-2002)
- Edward K. Gaylord (1873-1974), newspaper publisher and philanthropist
-
Ernst Jünger (1895-1998)
-
Joseph Nathan Kane (1899-2002)
- Arthur Lehning (1899-2000), Dutch writer and anarchist-archivist
- Frances Partridge (1900-2004)
-
Fernando Pessa (1902-2002), Portuguese journalist and radio broadcaster
-
Carl Rakosi (1903-2004)
- Robert St. John (1902-2003)
-
George Seldes (1890-1995)
- Madame Simone (1877-1985) Pen name for Pauline Benda; French actress, writer; obituary in 1985 Britannica Book of the Year
- Grace Zaring Stone (1891-1991), pseudonym: Ethel Vance
-
Walter Trohan (1903-2003), Chicago Tribune bureau chief and reporter
-
Phyllis A. Whitney (1903-Living)
Businessmen
Educators/school administrators
Explorers
Jurists/practitioners of law
Military commanders
-
Aaron Bank (1902-2004), "Father of Special Forces"
- Sir Philip Christison (1893-1993), British general
-
Henry Fancourt (1900-2004), Royal Navy officer, pioneering Naval Aviator
- Sir George Higginson (1826-1927), British general
-
John L. Hines (1868-1968), General, Chief of Staff, US Army
-
Stanislaw Maczek (1892-1994) Polish general
-
James Alward Van Fleet (1892-1992), US general
- Sir Provo Wallis (1791-1892), Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy
Musicians/Composers/music patrons
-
Irving Berlin (1888-1989), composer
-
Eubie Blake (1883?-1983) Famed Jazz pianist and composer (may have been only 96)
-
Irving Caesar (1895-1996)
-
Jimmie Davis (1899-2000), singer, songwriter, Governor of Louisiana
- Anthony Galla-Rini (1904-Living), known as "Mister Accordion"
-
Sidonie Goossens (1899-2004), harpist from famous music family
-
Roy Henderson (1899-2000)
-
Bill Johnson (1872-1972)
-
Paul Le Flem (1881-1984) French composer
- Conrad Leonard (1898-2003), pianist and composer
- Sir Robert Mayer (1879-1985)
-
Marcel Mule (1901-2001)
-
Manuel Patricio Rodriguez Garcia (1805-1906), music and singing teacher
-
Leo Ornstein (1892-2002)
-
Joseph Salemi (1902-2003), jazz trombonist
-
Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995)
-
Tillit S. Teddlie (1885-1987), hymn composer
- Grete von Zieritz (1899-2001), pianist and composer
Nobility
- Dominick Geoffrey Edward Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne (1901-2002)
- Ethel Sydney Keith, Countess of Kintore (1874-1974)
- Frank Douglas-Pennant, 5th Baron Penrhyn (1865-1967)
-
Judith, Countess of Listowel (1903-2003)
- Jean Pierre Francois Joseph Pineton, Marquis de Chambrun (1903-2004)
- Cora, Countess of Clancarty (1892-1993)
- Countess Elsa Bernadotte (1893-1996)
Philosophers/theologians
Politicians/government servants
-
Mahmud Celal Bayar (1884-1986), President of Turkey
- Samuel Brawand (1898-2001), Swiss politician
- Nripen Chakraborty (1904-2004), Indian politician, former Chief-minister of Tripura
-
Roswell Keyes Colcord (1839-1939)
-
Cornelius Cole (1822-1924), longest-lived US senator
-
Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres (1721-1824)
-
Georges-Casimir Dessaulles (1827-1930), Canadian senator
-
Willem Drees (1886-1988), prime minister of the Netherlands
- Eleanor Lansing Dulles (1895-1996), U.S. diplomat
- Jules Ellenberger (1871-1973), British colonial administrator
-
Josef Felder (1900-2000)
-
Hamilton Fish III (1888-1991), US Congressman
-
Marinus van der Goes van Naters (1900-2005), Dutch politician
-
John Netherland Heiskell (1872-1972), 2nd US senator to reach 100 years
-
Naruhiko Higashikuni (1887-1990)
-
Christopher Hornsrud (1859-1960), Prime Minister of Norway
- Paula Karpinski (1897-2005), German politician
- Piet Kasteel (1901-2003), Dutch diplomat, governor of Curaçao
-
George F. Kennan (1904-2005), Cold War policy architect
-
Alfred M. Landon (1887-1987), governor of Kansas and presidential nominee
- Sir Moses Haim Montefiore (1784-1885)
- Sir William Mulock (1844-1944), Canadian politician and cabinet member
-
Muhammad al-Muqri (c. 1840s? - 1957)
-
George Alexander Parks (1883-1984), territorial governor of Alaska.
-
Antoine Pinay (1891-1994), French prime minister
-
Edward Raczynski (1891-1993), Polish diplomat
-
Richard G. Reid (1879-1980), premier of Alberta
-
Nellie Tayloe Ross (1876-1977)
-
Murray Seasongood (1878-1983), mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio
-
Ramón Serrano Súñer (1901-2003), Spanish politician
-
Emanuel Shinwell (1884-1986)
-
Soong May-ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek) (1898-2003)
-
John Ward Studebaker (1887-1989)
- Reginald H. Sullivan (1876-1980), mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana
-
Maurice H. Thatcher (1870-1973), US Congressman
-
Strom Thurmond (1902-2003), US Senator
-
David Wark (1804-1905), Canadian senator
-
Zhang Qun (1889-1990), Chinese politician
-
Zhang Xueliang (Chang Hsüeh-liang) (1901-2001)
-
Xenophon Zolotas (1904-2004), former Prime Minister of Greece
Relative of someone well-known
-
Brooke Astor (1902-Living), wife of W. Vincent Astor
-
Marshall Collier (1838?-1954), great-grandfather of Oscar Robertson
-
Jean Faircloth (1898-2000), wife to Douglas MacArthur
- Mary Hanford (1901-2004), mother of Elizabeth Dole
-
Rose Kennedy (1890-1995), mother of John F. Kennedy
- Martin Konigsberg (1900-2001), father of Woody Allen
-
Eve Curie LaBouisse (1904-Living), daughter of Marie Curie
-
Richard Mudd (1901-2002), grandson of Samuel Mudd
-
Ruby Muhammad (1897-Living) wife of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad
- Cecelia Gertrude Lenerz Pulvermacher (1895-1999), mother of Lucian Pulvermacher, self-made Antipope Pius XIII.
Religious leaders/Clergymen
-
Laban Ainsworth (1757-1858), American clergyman and pastor
-
Saint Anthony (251-356)
-
Corrado Cardinal Bafile (1903-2005)
-
Henry Boehm (1775-1875)
-
Arthur Judson Brown (1856-1963) American clergyman, missonary and author
- Archbishop Alfonso Carinci (1862-1963), official of the Roman Curia
-
Edward Howard (1877-1983), archbishop
-
Francesco Minerva (1904-2004), Archbishop emeritus of Lecce, Italy
- John Linus Paschang (1895-1999), bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska
- Sophronius IV of Alexandria (1798-1899), Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria
- Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji (1828?-1963)
-
Tillit Sidney Teddlie (1885-1987), American hymnalist and pastor
-
Daniel Waldo (1762-1864)
-
Herbert Welch (1862-1969), Methodist Bishop and President of Ohio Wesleyan University
Royalty
Scientists/mathematicians
-
Charles G. Abbot (1872-1973), astronomer and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
- Wilson Baker , FRS (1900-2002) headed school of chemistry at University of Bristol, England
-
Arnold O. Beckman (1900-2004)
- Hans Erhard Bock (1903-2004), German physician, Tübingen
-
Su Buqing (1902-2003)
-
Henri Cartan (1904-Living), mathematician
-
Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889)
-
Harriette Chick (1875-1977)
-
Samuel Rickard Christophers (1873-1978), protozoologist
- William David Coolidge (1873-1975)
-
Ray Crist (1900-Living), chemist, retired from teaching post in 2004
- Leila Denmark (1898-Living), pediatrician, discovered pertussis vaccine
-
Gordon S. Fahrni (1887-1995), physician, expert on goiter
- Raymond Firth (1901-2002)
- Viktor Hamburger (1900-2001)
- Arthur R. von Hippel (1898-2003)
-
Rudolf Hell (1901-2002)
-
Edward Augustus Holyoke (1728-1829)
-
Ancel Keys (1904-2004)
- Nathaniel Kleitman (1895-1999), discoverer of REM sleep
- Paul E. Klopsteg (1889-1991)
-
Jerome F. Lederer (1902-2004)
-
Inge Lehmann (1888-1993)
-
Ernst Mayr (1904-2005), biologist
-
Margaret Alice Murray (1863-1963)
-
Franco Rasetti (1901-2001)
-
Waldo Semon (1898-1999)
- Brian Shaw (1898-1999), chemist famous for his lectures on explosives
-
Dirk Jan Struik (1894-2000)
- F. William Sunderman (1898-2003)
- Leopold Vietoris (1891-2002), mathematician
-
Zheng Ji (1900-Living) professor of Nanjing University, Chinese pioneer of nutriology and biochemistry.
Sportspeople
-
Constance M. K. Applebee (1873-1981), field hockey
-
Jacques Gerschwiler (1898-2000), figure skating
- Chet Hoff (1891-1998), oldest MLB player
- Fred W. Hooper (1897-2000), racehorse owner
-
Ulrich Inderbinen (1900-2004), mountain guide
- Keizo Miura (1904-Living), Japanese skier and ski instructor
-
Philip Rabinowitz, (1904-Living), South African sprinter.
-
Ted Radcliffe (aka "Double Duty Radcliffe") (1902-Living)
-
James Stillman Rockefeller (1902-2004), rowing, Olympic gold medal (see also under Business)
- Herman Smith-Johannsen (1875-1987), cross-country skiing
-
Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862-1965), American football
-
Leon Stukelj (1898-1999), olympian
-
Rhys Thomas (1904-2004), rugby
Miscellaneous
- Thomas (1787-1893) and Elizabeth Morgan (1786-1891), Welsh couple, whose combined age for a married couple (209 years) is claimed to be a world record.
-
Indra Devi (1899-2002)
- Henri Dufaux (1879-1980), aviator
-
Ida May Fuller (1874-1975), first U.S. citizen to receive a social security check
-
Eleanor Lambert (1903-2003), U.S. fashion pioneer
-
Irene Wells Pennington (1898-2003), multimillionaire oil widow
-
Connie Douglas Reeves (1901-2003), cowgirl
-
Saadi (1184-1283/1291), Iranian poet
- Len Vale-Onslow (1900-2004), British motorcycle maker
- Gladys Tantaquidgeon (1899-Living), Mohegan tribal matriarch
- Catherine Uhlmeyer (1893-2002), last survivor to remember, and Adella Wotherspoon (1903-2004), last survivor of, the General Slocum disaster of 1904
Known for attaining high age
See also supercentenarian, longevity myths.
See also
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 02:46:47
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
|
|
|
|
|
|