Centenarian

A centenarian is a person who has attained the age of 100 years or more. The term is associated with longevity because 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):

Jeanne Calment (1875-1997) - oldest person ever whose age has been verified by modern documentation; born 1875, lived to the age of 122. This defines the human lifespan, which is set by the oldest documented individual who ever lived.
Shigechiyo Izumi (1865-1986) - oldest male ever recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records; authentication largely questioned by modern conflation.
Christian Mortensen (1882-1998) - oldest male widely accepted by scholars

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 living ones emphasized strongly). This list is divided into sub-lists, according to how the centenarian became well known.

Activists/non-profit leaders

Albert Jean Amateau (1889-1996)
Melchora Aquino (1812-1919) "Mother of the Filipino Revolution"
Hugo Bleicher (1899-Living)
Catherine Bramwell-Booth (1883-1987), Salvation Army Commissioner
Ruth Ellis (1899-2000)
Alice Hamilton (1869-1970)
Mother Jones (1830-1930)
Paul Moyer Limbert (1897-1998), YMCA Secretary General
Zofia Morawska (1904-Living)
Margaret Murie (1902-2003), conservationist
Scott Nearing (1883-1983)
Sanzo Nosaka (1892-1993)
Frederick J. Schlink (1891-1995), cofounder of Consumers Research
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897-2000)
Thomas Wyatt Turner (1877-1978)
Irvin F. Westheimer (1879-1980)

Actors/filmmakers/entertainers

George Abbott (1887-1995)
Rosa Albach-Retty (1874-1980)
Etta Moten Barnett (1901-2004)
Margaret Booth (1898-2002)
Alice Cooke (1882-1985), stage and film actress
George Burns (1896-1996)
Dorothy Dickson (1893-1995)
Mary Ellis (1897-2003)
Liane Haid (1895-2000)
Kathleen Harrison (1892-1995)
Johannes Heesters (1903-Living)
Bob Hope (1903-2003)
Charles Lane (1905-Living)
Francis Lederer (1899-2000)
Frederica Sagor Maas (1900-Living)
Ivan Novikoff (1899-2002), ballet teacher
Risto Orko (1899-2001), Finnish film producer and director
Irving Rapper (1898-1999), film director
Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003), German filmmaker
Hal Roach (1892-1992)
Tonio Selwart (1896-2002), actor and stage performer
Athene Seyler (1889-1990)
Ninette de Valois (1898-2001)
Señor Wences (1896-1999)
Estelle Winwood (1883-1984)
Adolph Zukor (1873-1976)

Artists

Manuel Alvarez Bravo (1902-2002)
Theresa Ferber Bernstein (1890?-2002)
Alphaeus Philemon Cole (1876-1988)
Hiragushi Denchu (1872-1979), Japanese sculptor
Boris Efimov (1900-Living), cartoonist
Kathleen Hale (1898-2000), British illustrator
Grandma Moses (1860-1961)
Mirko Racki (1879-1982), Croatian painter
Bernarda Bryson Shahn (1903-2004)
Beatrice Wood (1893-1998)

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 (1904-2005), 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
Edward Wagenknecht (1900-2004), American writer and historian
Phyllis A. Whitney (1903-Living)

Businessmen

Edward Bernays (1891-1995)
Andrew George Burry (1873-1975)
Godfrey Lowell Cabot (1861-1962), Cabot Corporation
Albert Hamilton Gordon (1901-Living), Kidder, Peabody & Co.
Cecil H. Green (1900-2003), Texas Instruments co-founder
Garnet Hercules Mackley (1883-1986), Head of New Zealand Railways
R. Samuel McLaughlin (1871-1972)
Roy Neuberger (1903-Living)
Mohan Singh Oberoi (1898-2002)
Frits Philips (1905-Living)
Günter Reimann (1904-2005), economist
James Stillman Rockefeller (1902-2004), First National City Bank of New York (see also under Sportspeople)
Jacob Sapirstein (1885-1987) founded American Greetings
Hermann von Siemens (1885-1986)
Sir Thomas Sopwith (1888-1989), aircraft pioneer
W. Clement Stone (1902-2002), insurance leader
Sir James Swinburne (1858-1958)
Frank H. Wheaton Sr. (1881-1983) chaired Wheaton Industries until his death
Abdul Majid Zabuli (1896-1998)

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)
Uncle Charlie Osborne (1890-1992), Appalachian mountain music legend
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

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002)
Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000), pioneer of process theology
Mordecai Kaplan (1881-1983)
Oswald von Nell-Breuning (1890-1991)
Alfred Vaucher (1887-1993), French theologian, church historian
Paul Weiss (1901-2002)

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

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (1901-2004)
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900-2002)

Scientists/mathematicians

Charles G. Abbot (1872-1973), astronomer and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Horace Alexander (1889-1989), British biologist
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
Boris Yakovlovic Bukreev (1859-1962), Russian mathematician
Su Buqing (1902-2003), Chinese mathematician
Henri Cartan (1904-Living), French mathematician
Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889), French chemist
Harriette Chick (1875-1977), British biologist
Samuel Rickard Christophers (1873-1978), protozoologist
William David Coolidge (1873-1975), American engineer, developer of the Coolidge tube for production of x rays
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), New Zealand anthropologist
Viktor Hamburger (1900-2001). German biologist
Arthur R. von Hippel (1898-2003), German-American physicist, codeveloper of radar
Rudolf Hell (1901-2002), American inventor
Edward Augustus Holyoke (1728-1829), American physician
Ancel Keys (1904-2004), American biologist
Nathaniel Kleitman (1895-1999), American physician, discoverer of REM sleep
Paul E. Klopsteg (1889-1991), American physicist
Jerome F. Lederer (1902-2004), American engineer
Inge Lehmann (1888-1993), Danish seismologist
Ernst Mayr (1904-2005), German-American biologist
Margaret Alice Murray (1863-1963), British anthropologist
Pelageya Polubarinova-Kochina (1899-1999), Russian mathematician
Franco Rasetti (1901-2001), Italian physician
Henry Nicholas Ridley, British biologist
Waldo Semon (1898-1999), American chemist
Brian Shaw (1898-1999), chemist famous for his lectures on explosives
Nilakantha Somayaji (1444-1544), Indian mathematician
Dirk Jan Struik (1894-2000), Dutch mathematician
F. William Sunderman (1898-2003), American physician
Leopold Vietoris (1891-2002), Austrian 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

Percy & Florence Arrowsmith, (1900-2005; 1904-Living), longest marriage for a living couple and the oldest aggregate age of a married couple (according to the Guiness Book of Records)
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
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.
Irene Wells Pennington (1898-2003), multimillionaire oil widow
Connie Douglas Reeves (1901-2003), cowgirl
Saadi (1184-1283/1291), Iranian poet
Sir Thomas Sopwith (1888-1989), aviation pioneer
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
Len Vale-Onslow (1900-2004), British motorcycle maker

Known for attaining high age

See also supercentenarian, longevity myths.

Katherine Young (1901-Living), may be the oldest internet user
Anne Samson (1891-2004), oldest nun ever documented

External links

New England Centenarian Study (http://www.bumc.bu.edu/Dept/Home.aspx?DepartmentID=361)
U.S. politicians who lived the longest (http://politicalgraveyard.com/special/lived-long.html)

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