On this day, French woman Jeanne Calment officially reached the remarkable age of 120 years and 238 days, establishing a world record for the longest confirmed human lifespan in recorded history.
Her extraordinary longevity had been meticulously documented and verified by gerontologists and historians. but doubts remain.
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Jeanne Louise Calment (1 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian. With a lifespan of 122 years and 164 days, documented by French authorities, she was the oldest person in history whose age had been verified.
Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle. Calment is the only person in history who has been verified to have reached the age of 120.
According to census records, Calment outlived both her daughter and her grandson[ In January 1988, she was widely reported to be the oldest living person in the world. In 1995, at age 120, she was declared to be the oldest person in history with a verified date of birth.
French officials have refused to change the death certificate of the oldest person on record despite claims of fraud by Russian researchers.
Jeanne Calment died in 1997 aged 122 but a recent Russian study claimed she had in fact died in the 1930s.
They claimed her daughter then assumed her identity in order to avoid paying inheritance tax.