# World's Oldest Man (153)-Ever proven? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828 "2010-06-11T19:09:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/1 "2010-06-11T19:09:20Z")
I was reading an old book by Richard Halliburton (a world traveller and popular author of the 1930’s). He recounted a meeting with an old man (in Abkhazia/Russia), by the name of Zapara Kiut, who claimed (as of 1935) to be 153 years old. When questioned by Halliburton, Kuit could recall details of his army service in the Napoleonic wars, the dates of the births of his children, grand/great grandchildren, etc. He was also able to name the czar’s in correct chronological order. Now, I have never read anything about this guy…but the statisticians say that the chances of a human life exceeded 125 are effectively zero. Did any competent scientist ever investigate this? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/2 "2010-06-11T19:11:00Z")
He happened to claim various dates of birth for family members and to know the chronological order of the czars? That doesn’t sound like very convincing evidence of extraordinary age. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/3 "2010-06-11T20:39:14Z")
It certainly hasn’t been proven - the oldest person with solid evidence to back it up was a French woman named Jeanne Calment who died at a little over 122 years of age in 1997. I remember the Guiness Book Of World Records comment on old age which is reproduced in this Wikipedia article: > **[Longevity claims](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity_claims)** > > Longevity claims are unsubstantiated cases of asserted human longevity. Those asserting lifespans of 110 years or more are referred to as supercentenarians. Many have either no official verification or are backed only by partial evidence. Cases where longevity has been fully verified, according to modern standards of longevity research, are reflected in an established list of supercentenarians based on the work of organizations such as the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) or Guinness World Recor... “No single subject is more obscured by vanity, deceit, falsehood, and deliberate fraud than the extremes of human longevity.” I don’t know if anyone investigated that claim but I really, really, really doubt that Mr. Kiut was anywhere **close** to 153 years old. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/4 "2010-06-11T23:59:07Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > He happened to claim various dates of birth for family members and to know the chronological order of the czars? That doesn’t sound like very convincing evidence of extraordinary age. Make an appointment with me for four days later and I’ll memorize the monarchs of England, US presidents and 210 years of my family’s birthdays. That just means the information is available. I’m not 200 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/5 "2010-06-12T00:28:25Z")
A woman in Indonesia is claiming to be 145 years old. [Census Takers Find World’s Oldest Woman Alive and Well in Riau Province](http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/census-takers-find-worlds-oldest-woman-alive-and-well-in-riau-province/375596) ([thejakartaglobe.com](http://thejakartaglobe.com)) 18 May 2010 Sounds doubtful to me - there are no official documents. > [@](#): > > Mimi, 70, Katemi’s adopted daughter, told the team that she only knew that Katemi was born in 1865 from Karyo, Katemi’s brother. He passed away aged 165. ---
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/6 "2010-06-12T00:36:58Z")
I find it kind of funny that the world’s longest living woman got a reverse mortgage 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/7 "2010-06-12T01:15:09Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Make an appointment with me for four days later and I’ll memorize the monarchs of England, US presidents and 210 years of my family’s birthdays. That just means the information is available. I’m not 200 years old. Exactly. If _the interviewer_ can cross-check the information, _the interviewee_ can obtain it just as well. Hell, I’d imagine plenty of people have memorized sequences of historical leaders even without attempting to put on a persona of extraordinary age. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/8 "2010-06-12T01:21:40Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > It certainly hasn’t been proven - the oldest person with solid evidence to back it up was a French woman named Jeanne Calment who died at a little over 122 years of age in 1997. The wife and I used to send her a birthday card each year. Really! I would address the envelope thus: Jeanne Calment World’s Oldest Person Arles, France They were never returned, so I assume they all made it. One year while looking for a card, we saw one that read something like: “There are people who are richer than you, and some who are older …” Uh, no, we couldn’t send that one. ---
**Author:** ![charlie145](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@charlie145](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charlie145)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/9 "2010-06-12T02:07:39Z")
153? Bah he’s just a pup compared to [Li Ching-Yuen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen) at 256 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/10 "2010-06-12T16:26:37Z")
How could you prove a claim like that? That’s a serious question. There’s no way that I’m aware of to analyze human tissue and determine age. Anything you “remember” could be simply researched and memorized. They didn’t keep fingerprints or DNA samples with birth certificates in the 1800s. I can see ways to _disprove_ claims of extreme age (like finding a death certificate that shows you falsely assumed the identity you’re claiming), but I can’t think of a way to prove it. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/11 "2010-06-12T16:31:31Z")
> [@charlie145](#): > > 153? Bah he’s just a pup compared to [Li Ching-Yuen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen) at 256 years old. Meh. Go for broke and site Methuselah at 969. Or, what the heck? How about [Lazarus Long](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_Long)? He’s only 98 now, but he was over 2,000 when he was having sex with his mother in the 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/12 "2010-06-12T17:30:23Z")
> [@Danger\_Man](#): > > I find it kind of funny that the world’s longest living woman got a reverse mortgage 😛 Yes, I mentioned this in a thread about Mme Calment not so long ago. She outlived the guy who was paying her the monthly instalments, and his widow had to carry on paying for another two years before Calment finally checked out. Talk about adding insult to injury! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/13 "2010-06-12T18:23:04Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Yes, I mentioned this in a thread about Mme Calment not so long ago. She outlived the guy who was paying her the monthly instalments, and his widow had to carry on paying for another two years before Calment finally checked out. Talk about adding insult to injury! But at least he was a lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/14 "2010-06-12T18:39:44Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:10, topic:542828”] How could you prove a claim like that? [/QUOTE] Ask his Dad—he’ll vouch for the guy. There is a way to determine an animal’s age by measuring the amount of racemized aspartic acid in a sample of dental tissue. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/15 "2010-06-12T20:24:33Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > A woman in Indonesia is claiming to be 145 years old. > [Census Takers Find World’s Oldest Woman Alive and Well in Riau Province](http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/census-takers-find-worlds-oldest-woman-alive-and-well-in-riau-province/375596) ([thejakartaglobe.com](http://thejakartaglobe.com)) 18 May 2010 > Sounds doubtful to me - there are no official documents. I love this part: > [@](#): > > “So I think it is quite possible that Katemi is 145 years old, because she has a 98 year-old younger sister and a daughter aged over 70 years,” Dwi said. > > That explanation apparently sealed the deal for the census takers, who concluded that Katemi was indeed born in 1865. Yep, the numbers add up. All sisters are 47 years apart and all daughters are born when the mothers are 75. There’s just no way around it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/16 "2010-06-13T02:55:52Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:10, topic:542828”] How could you prove a claim like that? That’s a serious question. There’s no way that I’m aware of to analyze human tissue and determine age. Anything you “remember” could be simply researched and memorized. They didn’t keep fingerprints or DNA samples with birth certificates in the 1800s. I can see ways to _disprove_ claims of extreme age (like finding a death certificate that shows you falsely assumed the identity you’re claiming), but I can’t think of a way to prove it. [/QUOTE] Cut 'em open and count the rings. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/17 "2010-06-13T05:17:14Z")
I can list from memory all the kings and queens of England back to around the year 1500. Which, therefore, proves that I’m over 500 years old. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/18 "2010-06-13T13:54:43Z")
If someone lives to 153, then there should be people younger than him, but still very old. In other words, life-expectancy/longevity is distributed in a typical ‘bell curve’. What we’d have, though, if we accept this guy’s claim, is a very few people living to, say, 110, almost no-one to 115, and then _none_ between 120 and 150, but then, out of nowhere, by himself, this guy at 153. It makes no statistical sense. In fact, IMO, it is actually inconsistent with basic statistical considerations. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/19 "2010-06-14T00:06:53Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > If someone lives to 153, then there should be people younger than him, but still very old. In other words, life-expectancy/longevity is distributed in a typical ‘bell curve’. > > What we’d have, though, if we accept this guy’s claim, is a very few people living to, say, 110, almost no-one to 115, and then _none_ between 120 and 150, but then, out of nowhere, by himself, this guy at 153. It makes no statistical sense. In fact, IMO, it is actually inconsistent with basic statistical considerations. Well, couldn’t this guy have been an “outlier”? Granted, the normal distribution of human life spans shows essentailly zero after about 125 years..but outliers do occur. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828/20 "2010-06-14T02:16:38Z")
Strangely, people who make surprising claims for longevity seem to come from countries with lower than average life expectancy, but very few records by which to verify age. Funny, that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-man-153-ever-proven/542828.md?page=2)