The man who lived a record number of years. The oldest person on earth - why don't people live for two hundred years? Men live less

Jeanne Calmont (February 1875 - August 1997) set a world record for life expectancy - 122 years and 164 days (and this is an absolutely verified fact). Jeanne is French and was born in Orly. When the Eiffel Tower was built, she was 14 years old. At 114 she starred in films, and at 117 she quit smoking.

Madame Calmont always led active image life. At the age of 85 she was engaged in fencing, and at 100 she rode a bicycle. Jeanne was married to cousin They lived together for 46 years. Madame survived her daughter Yvonne and grandson Frederic.

A legal curiosity is associated with Calmont's longevity. At the age of 90, Jeanne, who had no heirs left, entered into an agreement with the 47-year-old lawyer Raffri: he was supposed to inherit the old woman's house for paying her rent every month until her death. The cost of the house was roughly equal to the amount he would have paid in 10 years. However, fate could not help smiling. Raffri not only paid Jeanne for 30 years, but also died before her, at 77, and his widow continued the payments according to the law.

The whole world learned about Calmont when in 1988, in honor of the centenary of Van Gogh, she told in an interview how she met the artist at the age of 14. "He was dirty, poorly dressed and gloomy." Jeanne was also at Hugo's funeral.

Calmont became the oldest actress in the world, at the age of 114 starring in documentary Vincent and me. And the oldest patient of surgeons, when she underwent hip surgery at 115.

Jeanne quit smoking at the age of 117. And not because I felt bad. It was just that she, who had almost lost her sight, was unpleasant to ask for a light every time. She served herself until the age of 110, and only after that she moved to a shelter.

Sayings of Madame Calmont:

"God forgot about me!"
“I only have one wrinkle and I sit on it.”
"I'm in love with wine."
"I was not young a hundred years ago."

When Jeanne was asked on her 120th birthday what she thought the future would be like, Madame gave an ingenious answer: "Very short."

The secrets of longevity have long interested people. This question periodically makes many people think about how to achieve perfect health, harmony with oneself and become a long-liver. Most often, asking such questions, people return to the food system or spirituality, to traditions coming from antiquity or genetic history families. The average life expectancy in the CIS countries is 60–65 years, slightly higher than in the countries Western Europe. But there are people who have revealed their secrets of longevity. In history, centenarians are called people who have reached the 90th birthday. The oldest man in the world among men is considered to be Li Ching-Yun (or Li Ching-Yun).

An old man from China

The data on the birth of Lee Ching-Yun report that he was born in 1677, although the old man himself says that he was born in 1736. In 1930, a professor from the University of Chengdu discovered the Imperial Government Records from 1827, which mentioned his 150th birthday from the authorities. The Chinese leadership did not leave the centenarian unattended further, congratulating him, but already on his 200th birthday.

The old man was born in Sichuan province. When he was ten years old, Lee began to collect, process and distribute herbs, which were considered healing. Even then, he began to study and study everything that helps to achieve a long life and health. The elder's diet was not varied: Li ate decoctions of herbs, wine and boiled rice. At the age of 71, in 1749, Li moved to the city of Cai. After offering his job, he became a tactical adviser and teacher of art history.

In the New York Times obituaries for 1933, it was announced that at the age of 256, the long-liver of world significance, Li Ching-Yun, died. By that time, the long-liver had become a widower no less than 23 times. He had about 180 heirs. Did he live 256 years or, as Lee himself claimed, 197 years. How old the oldest person in the world was in reality is not exactly known, but this is much more than the longevity record of a native of France, Jeanne Calment.

The oldest French woman

Jeanne Calment was born in Arles in 1875. The record holder grew up in a fairly prosperous family of a shipowner. When Jeanne was 21 years old, she married one of distant relatives. She had a daughter, but, unfortunately, over time, Jeanne had to bury almost all of her relatives.

For my long life she almost never refused good food and good wine. She loved vegetables and garlic. The only thing that the Frenchwoman tried to avoid was conflicts and quarrels. Kalman always boasted of her health, having an addiction to smoking, and she smoked until the age of 117, remaining in excellent health. physical form. Having mastered fencing at the age of 85, and practicing cycling until the age of 100, she was active and cheerful until the age of 114. When she reached her 114th birthday, disaster struck - the active centenarian fell and broke her hip. This greatly complicated her life, but still did not stop her from living to 122 years. Jeanne Calment 4 August 1997.

Another long-lived woman

Leading the list of the oldest women living in our time, Okawa Misao, unfortunately, passed away in April 2015. And while the Guinness Book of Records has not recorded a new record holder among women, it is Misao who is in first place.

She was born in Osaka on March 5, 1898. She married in 1919, during her marriage she had three children, from whom four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren were born. Misao never refused to eat delicious food, and she never suffered from special health problems. She considered sleep to be her secret to health and longevity: a good, healthy 15-hour sleep.

Modern centenarian

As for the centenarians who are still living today, they include a resident of Bolivia (the central part South America) Flores Laura. Flores deserves this place of honor. Based official document, was born a Bolivian on July 16 in 1890.

Flores achieved a long life with the help of nutrition and: he spends a lot of time on the move and eats exclusively what he has grown with his own hands - these are grains, potatoes and legumes. From meat, he consumes only lamb, he drinks water exclusively from high-mountain sources. He did not try alcoholic drinks and never used them. Perhaps that is why serious illnesses are unfamiliar to him. The 125-year-old man speaks only Spanish and still cannot read or write. Hearing often disappears, but vision is still good. He has three children, from whom there are sixteen grandchildren and thirty-nine great-grandchildren. Laura still walks without a cane.

As history shows, every centenarian still has his own version of what leads a person to health and long life. Some say it's a dream, some say it's proper nutrition, and someone - about . Each of these assumptions has given humanity a people whose long life is beyond any rule of existence.

Another long-liver died on January 18, 2016 in Japan - 112-year-old Yasutaro Koide, born in Fukui PrefectureMarch 13, 1903. Previously, the man was hospitalized due to exacerbations of chronic heart disease.

Yasutaro Koide

After his death, the title of the oldest man in Japan went to 111-year-old Tokyo Masamitsu Yoshida.

The late Koide received the status of the oldest man in the world last summer, after his compatriot Sakari Momoi, who was also 112 years old, passed away.

Also last year, the oldest resident of Japan died, whose name was not disclosed at the request of relatives. She was 115 at the time of her death.

After that, the title of the oldest woman in Japan went to 115-year-old Nabi Tajima from Kagoshima Prefecture.

The question of the duration of human life has long been haunting the minds of not only scientists, but also ordinary mortals. Experts are constantly on the lookout for an anti-aging remedy or a cure for immortality.

Not so long ago, I even wrote that by 2045, scientists plan to start resurrecting people from the dead and creating immortality technologies by transferring consciousness into a computer shell. However, on our planet there were and still are people whose age is much longer than the notorious 100 years, and who lead a not-so-correct lifestyle.

So, we present you a list of the ten most famous centenarians in history. Separately, we note that the life expectancy of these 10 people was officially confirmed.

Danish-American record holder for the number of years lived Christian Mortensen believed to be the oldest male on record. He was born on August 16, 1882, and died on April 25, 1998, having lived 115 years, 252 days.

Christian Mortensen

The man immigrated to America in 1903. In the New World, he worked as a tailor and milkman. As the secret of his longevity, he called "friends, good cigars, consumption a large number good water, no alcohol, an optimistic outlook on life and singing."

Maggie Pauline Barnes was born into slavery in the United States on March 6, 1882, and she died on January 19, 1998 at the age of 115 years and 319 days. Little is known about this woman, but we can say for sure that she not only withstood all the hardships and hardships, but also survived 11 of her 15 children.

Maggie Pauline Barnes

American Bessie Cooper was born on August 26, 1896 and died on December 4, 2012 at the age of 116. When asked about the secret of her longevity, the woman said: "I I don't stick my nose in other people's business" and added "And I don't eat junk food."

Bessie Cooper

Another long-liver from the USA Elizabeth Bolden was born on August 15, 1890 and lived until December 11, 2006 - 116 years 118 days. She was born into a family of freed slaves in Tennessee.

Elizabeth Bolden

Thane Ikai Born January 18, 1879 in a family of farmers in the Japanese city of Kansei. At the age of 20, she married, after which she gave birth to 4 children, whom she survived by the time of her death on July 12, 1995. The woman loved to embroideranimate and ceramics. Her daily diet consisted mainly of rice, which, most likely, in combination with the traditional Japanese diet, helped protect her from heart disease and cancer.

Thane Ikai

Maria Capovilla was born in Ecuador on September 14, 1889. Having lived to 116 years 347 days, she became the oldest South American woman in history and the longest-lived person in the southern hemisphere. The woman died on August 27, 2006, less than a month before her 117th birthday. Almost to the end of her days, Capovilla was healthy and energetic. She is I drank some alcohol but never smoked.

Maria Capovilla

French-Canadian centenarian from Quebec Mary Louise Mailer was 117 years 230 days old at the time of her death on April 16, 1998. By that time, one of her sons was living in the same nursing home as herself, and her daughter was 90 years old.

Mary Louise Mailer

Lucy Hanna lived to 117 years 248 days. She is considered the oldest African American woman and the third oldest person in history.

The woman was born in Alabama, USA on July 16, 1875. She married in 1901. In marriage, she had 8 children, six of whom she survived.

The second oldest person in history isSarah Knauss.She passed away at the age of 119 years 97 days. This happened on December 30, 1999.

Sarah Knauss

The oldest person who ever lived on Earth is considered to beJeanne Calment. Officiallyher record has yet to be broken. The woman lived 122 years 164 days.

She was born in the French city of Arles on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997. During her amazing life, she witnessed the invention of the automobile, as well as cinema and airplanes. At the age of 13, she dated Vincent van Gogh.

Jeanne Calment

Jeanne Calment, as she herself said, had "immunity from stress", was witty and talked about a new secret of longevity at every birthday.

It is known that the centenarian rode a bicycle and drank port wine until she was 100 years old. In addition, almost until her death, she smoked. The best advice was to say, "If you can't do anything about it, don't worry."

Unofficial centenarians

However, scientists still cannot give an exact answer about the age of the oldest man in the world. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the palm belongs to the Japanese Shigechio Izumi, who, as stated, he was born on June 29, 1865, and died on February 21, 1986. That is, the Japanese long-liver, according to sources, lived 120 years and 237 days.

Shigechio Izumi

All the listed centenarians were outdone by the Chinese Lee Ching-yun, whose ultra-long life has not been officially confirmed. It is believed that he was born in 1677 and died in 1933, that is, at the time of his death he was 256 years old!

Earthly "superstar" all his long life spent in the mountains of Sichuan, doingcollection, preparation and sale of medicinal herbs. He also visited Tibet, Kang-Su, Shanxi, Manchuria and other countries to collect plants.As a young man he practiced martial arts, and his neighbors spoke of him as a vigorous and strong man.

According to some reports, the oldest man had 24 wives and 180 heirs, many of whom have already passed away. The Chinese always followed a strict diet, ate rice and wine, drank decoctions from his own collected herbs.

Lee Ching-yun

Examples of centenarians are found in the countries of the post-Soviet space and in Russia. But there are not very many such people, besides, the life expectancy has not been officially confirmed.

One such example is a citizen of Uzbekistan Tuti Yusupova, by nationality Karakalpak. The woman was born on July 1, 1880 and died on March 28, 2015 at the age of 134.

Tuti Yusupova

Citizen of Georgia Antisa Khvichava was born on July 8, 1880 in the village of Sachino. She died on September 30, 2012 at the age of 133.

Antisa Khvichava

Azerbaijani by nationality Sarhat Ibragimovna Rashidova was born in 1885 in the Dagestan village of Upper Zidyan. Having lived for 132 years, she died in January 2007.

Sarhat Ibragimovna Rashidova

Living in Altai, she was born in 1886 in the village of Novaya Barda. For some time she lived in Uzbekistan, but then at the age of 100 she returned to her homeland. The woman died in March 2005 from complications caused by the flu, having lived to be 119 years old.

Zakurdaeva (Lavkina) Pelageya Osipovna

Resident of Vladivostok Afanasy Ivanovich Tarasov died in 2003 at the age of 116.

Afanasy Ivanovich Tarasov

In Dagestan, the well-known "grandfather" Magomed Labazanov died at the age of 123 in the fall of 2012.

As for the living, recently there is a man in India named Mahashta Murasi, who turned 180 this year. The long-liver claims to be immortal.

According to the only document preserved by Murashi, it is known that he was born on June 1, 1835 (according to other sources - in January 1835), worked as a shoemaker. The man claims that he is so old that he has already outlived his great-great-granddaughter.

Mahashta Murasi

One of the oldest women in Italy, Theresia Staffler, died on Monday evening in the mountainous town of Santa Valpurga in the northern Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige at the age of 112. Staffler was far from the only known centenarian who was over 100 years old.

The duration of human life depends on many factors. This is both a genetic predisposition and environment, and the mood of a person, his desire to live. Only a small fraction of a percent of total strength people on earth.

According to gerontologists, life expectancy modern man 40% less than that assigned to him by nature: 100-120 years of active and full life is not the limit for the human body.

By classification World Organization health care, centenarians include older people who have crossed the 90-year mark.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the human lifespan limit is 122 years. So much lived Jeanne Louise Calmat, a resident of France, born February 21, 1875 in Arles. A resident of Japan, Shigechio Izumi, who was born in 1865 and died of pneumonia in 1986, lived two years less.

But many scientists and journalists believe that the Guinness Book of Records does not have all the data on centenarians. So, a reporter from the Cairo newspaper Al-Akhbar talks about a man who, according to him, is 195 years old and he perfectly remembers the opening of the Suez Canal.

The Vietnamese census in 1991 also made adjustments to the question of centenarians. A 142-year-old man was found in Kunhol County, Nghetinh Province. In the same place, in Vietnam, they found a long-liver who was born in 1847, survived three of her husbands and has four children who have already exceeded 100 years.

According to unverified data, one of the oldest inhabitants of the planet was a Chinese citizen Li-Chgung-yan, who was born in 1680 and died in 1933 at the age of 253 years. However, these reports are not documented.

One of the oldest inhabitants of Colombia, Javier Pereira, lived to be 169 years old. A special edition was issued in his honour. Postage Stamp. On the day when Pereira turned 146 years old, representatives of the authorities and senior officials came to congratulate him. They asked for the consent of the hero of the day so that a commemorative stamp with his image was issued in his honor. Pereira agreed, but made a condition: at the bottom in the corner of the stamp should be written: "I drink and smoke."

In the Soviet Union, a postage stamp was also issued in honor of the long-lived Mukhamed Eyvazov (he was then 148 years old). After that, Eyvazov lived for another three years. He died in August 1959.

An interesting case is described by English historians. In 1635, the peasant Thomas Parr came from the provinces to London to appear before King Charles as a miracle of longevity. Parr claimed to have outlived nine kings and was 152 years old. In honor of the centenarian, the king arranged a magnificent feast, after which Thomas Parr died suddenly. It was opened by the famous English doctor William Harvey, who discovered blood circulation. According to Harvey, Parr died of pneumonia, but, as the legends say, the cause of his death was a plentiful meal at the king's table. Parr was buried with honors in Westminster Abbey.

Of the most famous centenarians, the following can also be noted:

Zoltan Petrij (Hungary) - 186 years old.

Peter Zortai (Hungary) - 185 years old (1539-1724).

Cantigern is the founder of the abbey in Glasgow. Known as Saint Mungo. Lived 185 years.

Tense Abzive (Ossetia) - 180 years old.

Khuddie (Albania) - 170 years old. His offspring reached 200 people.

Hanger Nine (Turkey). Lived 169 years. Died in 1964.

Sayyad Abdul Mabud (Pakistan) - 159 years old.

AT developed countries world there is a constant struggle for the survival and improvement of the nation, for increasing the life expectancy of each person. The increase in life expectancy in all countries of the world is achieved by reducing child mortality and reducing mortality from cancer and heart disease. Thus, by conquering diseases, mankind seeks to approach the achievement of the upper limit of human life.

Leonard Hayflick, professor of anatomy at the University of California, based on his human survival graphs for selected countries and different periods obtained a theoretical curve with an upper limit of 115 years. At the same time, Hayflick discovered another interesting pattern: it turns out that human life expectancy is proportionally related to the ratio of brain weight to body weight. The larger this ratio, the longer life, and it changed quite dramatically at certain periods during evolution. Last time its strong increase occurred 100 thousand years ago, after which it practically did not change, just as the ratio of brain weight to body weight did not change.

Leonard Hayflick also expressed an original point of view on the aging of the body. According to him, aging occurs after the cessation of growth, and those creatures whose growth does not stop with time (shark, sturgeon, Galapagos tortoise) age very, very slowly.

Various scientists of the world speak about the upper limit of human life in different ways. The famous medieval physician Paracelsus believed that a person can live 600 years. Albrecht von Haller and Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland (scientists of the 18th century) considered the age of 200 years to be the limit of human life. Russian scientists Ilya Mechnikov and Alexander Bogomolets spoke about 160 years.

As paradoxical as it may sound, few centenarians die a natural death directly from old age. Almost always, the cause of death is various diseases - cardiovascular, oncological, infectious.

In his “Etudes of Optimism”, Mechnikov pointed out that “in 1902 in Paris, only 85 people died of old age for 1000 deaths between 70 and 74 years old. Most old people died from contagious diseases: pneumonia and consumption, from diseases of the heart, kidneys or cerebral hemorrhage." Even the famous centenarians, the Englishman Thomas Parr (152 years old) and the Turks Zara Agha (156 years old) died not from age, but from diseases (the first from pneumonia, the second from uremic coma caused by prostate disease).

Among centennial centenarians, drunkards are often found. The surgeon Politiman died at the age of 140 (1685-1825); from the age of 25, he used to get drunk every day after finishing his studies. Gascony, a butcher in Trie (Pyrenees), who died in 1767 at the age of 120, got drunk twice a week. The example of one Irish landowner, Brown, who lived to be 120 years old, is striking. He bequeathed to make him a tombstone, stating that "he was always drunk and so terrible in this state that death itself was afraid of him."

But some centenarians loved wine, others coffee. So, for example, the famous Voltaire was very fond of coffee, and when one doctor began to tell him that coffee is a poison, Voltaire replied: "It will soon be 80 years since I have been poisoned by this poison." Coffee drinker Elizabeth Durien lived to be 114 years old.

It is said that smoking shortens life. However, many centenarians smoked. Ross, who received the Longevity Award at 102 (1896), was a heavy smoker.

Scientists have always been interested in the so-called "centers of longevity", isolated areas where people live much longer than in other places and retain vitality and energy until the end of their lives. One of these regions is Abkhazia, where almost 3% of the population is centenarians, whose age exceeds 100 years.

It is estimated that in 2000 there were 70,000 to 80,000 people aged 100 or over in the United States. Centennial people represent one of the fastest growing age groups in the US population.

Average life expectancy in Cuba, US neighbors, is one of the highest in the world: 76 years. At the same time, for 11 million of the country's population, there are about 3 thousand people who have crossed the centennial milestone.

Taiwan boasts the number of its centenarians over the age of 100 . According to the Xinhua News Agency as of October 2009, there are 1,223 of them in the state. Among people of respectable age, 853 are women and 370 are men. The oldest of them are a 116-year-old resident of Kaohsiung City and a 113-year-old resident of Lianhua County, Taipei City.

In November 2009, the peasant woman Halima Solmaz, the oldest woman on the planet, who lives in the east of Turkey in the highland province of Diyarbakir, turned 125 years old. In confirmation of this, the representative of the provincial census bureau showed the identity card of the universal hero of the day, in which the date of birth of grandmother Halime is registered - 1884.

On January 11, 2010, at the age of 112, in the mountainous town of Santa Valpurga, in the northern Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige, one of the oldest women in Italy, Theresia Staffler, died.

Staffler, who was born in 1898, managed to live in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. She was ranked 45th in the world list of centenarians.

Teresia will be buried by her two daughters, who are 88 and 85 years old, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Throughout history, there have been people whose life expectancy has exceeded the most optimistic expectations.

All of these people lived to be over 115 years old, which means they can be called super centenarians (people who lived to at least 110 years old). Some of them drank, smoked all their lives, and some were very healthy lifestyle life and everyone went down in history, having their own secret of longevity.

There are several people, such as the Japanese Shigechiyo Izumi, who, according to some estimates, has reached 120 years old, as well as Shirali Muslimov, an Azerbaijani shepherd, who has reached the age of presumably 168 years old - centenarians who have reached an unprecedented advanced age. But these cases have not been confirmed.

Here are 10 super centenarians whose lifespan has been tested.

10. Christian Mortensen (1882-1998)

Danish-American long-liver Christian Mortensen, who lived 115 years, 252 days, is considered the oldest man on record. He was born on August 16, 1882 and died on April 25, 1998.

Mortenson is unusual not only because he was a man (only 9.8 percent of confirmed supercentenarians are male), but also because he smoked several cigars a week for 95 years of his life. Also most life he was single, which usually negatively affects life expectancy. But Mortenson became an exception to the rule here, having been married for only 10 years.

This amazing man immigrated to America in 1903, where he worked as a tailor and milkman. So what is the secret to longevity, according to Mortenson himself? “Friends, good cigars, drinking plenty of good water, avoiding alcohol, having an optimistic outlook on life and singing will ensure you a long life,” he argued.

9. Maggie Pauline Barnes (1882 -1998)

Maggie Pauline Barnes was born into slavery on March 6, 1882. She died on January 19, 1998 at the age of 115 years and 319 days. Although little is known about her, her age alone speaks volumes. amazing life. Maggie not only endured the hardships of slavery in the US, but outlived 11 of her 15 children.

The woman died of complications from a minor infection in her leg. Her story is all the more surprising because at the beginning of the 20th century, the average life expectancy was 47 years for white Caucasians and 40-42 years for African Americans. And while that gap is shrinking more and more, Bruns did the impossible by living 75 years more than average life expectancy.

8. Bessie Cooper (1896 -)

Bessie Cooper was born on August 26, 1896. Most recently, she celebrated her 116th birthday, becoming the oldest living person in the world. When asked what the secret to her long life was, she replied, "I don't poke my nose into other people's business," and added, "And I don't eat junk food."

Bessie's life spans three centuries, she survived two world wars and many other historical events.

Cooper worked as a school teacher, and after her husband's death at the age of 68, she lived alone on the family farm. At 105, she moved into a nursing home.

7. Elizabeth Bolden (1890 - 2006)

Elizabeth Bolden lived from August 15, 1890 to December 11, 2006. She was 116 years 118 days old at the time of her death.

She was born into a family of freed slaves in Tennessee, USA, and her life was not easy. Her genes for longevity were apparently not passed on to her children and only two of Elizabeth's seven children were alive at the time of her death. And yet, some of her descendants may be able to set a new longevity record. When she died, she left behind more than 500 direct descendants, including 75 great-great-great-great-grandchildren.

Though Boden herself hasn't spoken much since her stroke in 2004, she happily celebrated her 116th birthday by tasting two of her favorite treats: ice cream and candy.

6. Thain Ikai (1879 -1995)

With an incredible lifespan of 116 years 175 days, Thein Ikai is both the oldest confirmed specimen in Japan and Asia. The woman was born on January 18, 1879 in a family of farmers in the city of Kansei in Japan. She married at 20 and had 4 children, whom she had outlived by the time of her death on July 12, 1995.

Thane enjoyed doing embroidery and pottery. She ate mostly rice porridge, which, combined with traditional Japanese nutrition, may have helped protect her from heart disease and cancer.

An autopsy after her death showed that the centenarian died of kidney failure. So far, she is the only super-long-liver who has undergone an autopsy.

5. Maria Capovilla (1889 - 2006)

Ecuadorian centenarian Maria Capovilla was born on September 14, 1889, the same year that the Eiffel Tower was presented to the public. Having lived to 116 years 347 days, she became the oldest South American in history, as well as the longest-lived person in the southern hemisphere. Capovilla died on August 27, 2006, just under a month short of her 117th birthday.

She was the embodiment of health and energy almost to the end of her life, although she drank a little alcohol, but never smoked. She was born in the family of a colonel and lived among the elite of Ecuador, and in 1917 she married an officer, an Italian by birth, Antonio Capovilla.

When she was 99 years old, she suddenly fell ill and she was practically buried in catholic church. But she survived, and after that she walked without a stick, read newspapers, watched TV and was in good health. Three of her five children were alive at the time of her death, and they were 78, 80 and 81 years old.

4. Maria Louise Mailer (1880 - 1998)

Maria Louise Mailer was 117 years 230 days old when she died on April 16, 1998. Interestingly, at the time of her death, one of her sons lived in the same nursing home as herself, and her daughter was 90 years old.

The French-Canadian centenarian was born in Quebec, Canada on August 29, 1880. Her first husband died of pneumonia when she was 30 years old. After that, Mailer moved to the border between Quebec and Ontario, where she met her second husband, Hector Mailer.

The woman believed that her longevity was due to hard work and this is not surprising, given that she had 10 children and two marriages. Also, the centenarian liked to occasionally drink a glass of wine, and quit smoking when she was 90 years old, 27 years before her death.

3. Lucy Hanna (1875 -1993)

Lucy Hanna has never been honored with the title of oldest person in history, simply because she lived at the same time as Jeanne Calment, who received this title.

Despite this, Hannah lived to a deep 117 years 248 days and is the oldest African American and the third oldest person in history.

She was born in Alabama, USA on July 16, 1875. She married John Hann in 1901 and had 8 children, 6 of whom she survived. Hannah's two sisters lived to be 100 years old, while her mother lived to be 99 years old.

2. Sarah Knauss (1880 -1999)

Sarah Knauss is the second oldest person in history. She died at the age of 119 years 97 days. This amazing woman was born on September 24, 1880 and died on December 30, 1999, just a few days before the 21st century. Obviously, Sarah didn't care. When she was told that she had become the oldest person in the world, she replied: "So what."

Her daughters described their mother as incredibly calm and undisturbed. Perhaps this was the secret of her long life, since excessive stress negatively affects human health.

Knauss survived 7 american wars, the Great Depression and the death of her husband after 64 years of marriage. At the time of her death, she was already older than the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty in the United States.

1. Jeanne Calment (1875 - 1997)

Jeanne Calment is the oldest person who ever lived on Earth, and so far no one has been able to beat her record of 122 years 164 days. She was born in Arles, France on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997. In her lifetime, she witnessed the invention of the automobile, cinema, stainless steel, television, and airplanes.

Surprisingly, she even met Vincent van Gogh when she was 13, whom she described as "dirty, unkempt and scowling."

Kalman, like Sarah Knauss, had "immunity from stress." She also boasted wit and at every birthday she announced a new secret to longevity.

The centenarian rode a bike and drank port wine until she was 100 years old, and also smoked almost to death. She claimed that laughter, physical activity and a strong stomach helped her live to a ripe old age. And her best advice there was a saying: "If you can't do anything about it, don't worry."