Evidence That Jeanne Calment Died in 1934—Not 1997

Abstract

I present a body of data that, I argue, cumulatively casts serious doubt on the validity of Jeanne Calment's accepted world record of human life span. First, I assess the plausibility of the record based on the life spans of other centenarians in the International Database of Longevity (IDL) and critique some arguments put forward previously in support of that plausibility, including the longevity of Calment's ancestors. Second, I review the literature dedicated to Calment and discuss multiple contradictions in her interviews, biographies, photos, and documents. I argue that the evidence from these sources motivates renewed consideration of the previously rejected hypothesis that Jeanne's daughter Yvonne acquired her mother's identity after her death to avoid financial problems and that Jeanne Calment's death was reported as Yvonne's death in 1934. Finally I discuss the importance of reconsidering the principles of validation, due to the possibility of similar problems regarding other exceptionally long-lived people and the mistaken inferences that researchers may draw from flawed datasets. The phenomenon of Jeanne Calment may prove to be an instructive example of the uncertainty of seemingly well-established facts.

Jeanne Calment's Unique 122-Year Life Span: Facts and Factors; Longevity History in Her Genealogical Tree

“…Nikolay Zak published in 2019 what he considered to be such a solid scenario. 27 This gave a high visibility on this hypothesis and a positive consequence is that it motivated other people such as us to investigate further. The proposed scenario was certainly an attractive scenario from a Romanesque point of view, such as would be also a substitution by a Martian, however, when analyzed in details this interesting scenario appears to be not solid, not supported by any real facts, but rather illusions such as a nonexisting ''fibroma.''…”

“…About JC's interviews, the extracts that may seem to support the identity swap hypothesis should of course be considered too for an objective analysis. The most troubling one, by far, noted by Nikolay Zak, 27 is when JC answered the question about the name of the servant taking her to school with a name, Marthe Touchon, who was apparently in fact Marthe Fousson (1885-1947), the servant who was employed by JC for a few years, at least between 1906 and 1911, when she could take Yvonne to school. At first glance this seems troubling; however, such a confusion in memories is something that people often do, {{ Manuel Comeche Alcántara ''Espartero'' (Alcublas near Valencia, Spain, April 10, 1866-Nîmes, France, October 7, 1896).…”

“…A financial motive has been suggested with the idea that the inheritance tax rates were up to 40% in France in 1934. 27 As already indicated, no example of an ID swap in France is known, be it for fiscal reason or whatever reason, but even if we suppose that a high rate of taxes could potentially be a motive for such a crime, I calculated, thanks to the detailed fiscal rates and laws of the time, 61 that the average overall tax rate on inheritance in France in January 1934, in the case where a child and a spouse would be the heirs, would only be a s follows:…”

« La fille de Jeanne Calment a usurpé l’identité de sa mère »

“…En « publiant » d'abord son hypothèse sur internet, Zak a en effet rendu impossible toute décision de publication ultérieure fondée sur la seule qualité de son travail. Zak a publié son article [14] dans la revue Rejuvenation Research, l'éditeur-en-chef étant Aubrey de Grey dont les thèses controversées ont été évoquées plus haut. Cet article a été expertisé par deux relecteurs (communication personnelle d'Aubrey de Grey) : pour un article si controversé, on se serait attendu à ce que au moins trois voire quatre relecteurs soient impliqués.…”

“…Zak n'avance évidemment aucune preuve à l'appui de sa thèse. Dans cette dernière version, Zak [14] identifie clairement la compagnie d'assurance avec laquelle Jeanne Calment aurait contracté une rente viagère avant 1934 : c'est la Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance créée en… 1959. Qu'une revue qui se prétend scientifique se soit laissée aller à publier un tel délire laisse pantois.…”