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

Abstract

Jeanne Calment's (JC) still unmatched validated human life span of 122 years and 164 days, over 3 years longer than any other, surprises many. While her case is broadly accepted as a golden standard of validation, her record age still raises skepticism among some. The probability of such a record to be achieved by someone born in the second half of the 19th century, in the world population documentarily eligible to age validation, and also in the G7 countries, can be calculated by applying some logistic and Gompertz mortality models to these populations, taken, respectively, from the age of 117 and of 100. This probability appears substantial, respectively, 7.1% and 4.7%, when using a four-parameter logistic model, which I validated on the observed survivals of centenarians until the age of 118. A 3-year interval with the second oldest is then expected. The known facts and documents constitute consistent evidence that JC died at 122: regular official records during her life, her verified memories from her 19th century life, her usage of specialized terms and of an abbreviation system specific to this period of time, photographs, her signature and handwriting, testimonies from numerous witnesses of her life, plus the expertise of gerontologists. Meanwhile, nothing contradicts her record: the daughter/mother identity swap hypothesis appears unrealistic and not supported by any evidence; especially no plausible motive can be found, on the contrary. The latest article, which defends this hypothesis, ''Bayesian assessment of the longevity of JC,'' contains major errors, making its result subjective and invalid. The study of JC's genealogical tree on six generations, using longevity performance and total immediate ancestor longevity indicators, shows how, in two centuries, her ancestors have been living 10% longer on average at each generation, increasingly overperforming their French 25-year-old contemporaries, from around 7% in the early 18th century to 43% for her parents, and up to 56% for her older brother and 80% for herself, which suggests a progressive concentration of longevity factors. In addition to the hereditary factors, JC's personal overperformance suggests also some environmental factors, and indeed many are known. Further knowledge could be obtained by studying JC's existing blood and DNA samples: those could not only provide an additional proof of her authenticity, but more importantly could be of immense contribution for understanding deeper the factors and patterns of her longevity, and more generally the longevity and aging processes in humans in general as well.

If Jeanne Calment Were 122, That Is All the More Reason for Biosampling

“…In such a sweet-spot environment that tends to maximize exposure among the local community, having lived her entire life in the same place, the odds of an identity switch in such a scenario are virtually nonexistent: a large number of persons have stated that they knew Jeanne and Yvonne Calment and none of them ever recalled anything that would come close for them suspecting an ID switch 47 (for further reading, please see the Robin-Champigneul chapter). 48 Suspicion in this case was not based on actual evidence but standard testing procedures, and because the age claim was so extraordinary…”

“…Nonetheless, a quick check of the actual new material located in 2019 again strongly affirms that there is no place for an ID-switch scenario in the Jeanne Calment case (see the Robin-Champigneul article for details). As others have covered the rebuttals to this story [including Eric LeBourg, 49 Jean-Marie Robine, 4 and Francois Robin-Champigneul (this issue)], 48 I plan to examine only a few example issues that demonstrate the need to consider the ''null'' hypothesis (the possibility that the hypothesis advanced may be incorrect) in one's research. Skepticism is not simply to doubt something: it is, rather, to take a careful approach, to demand a closer look at something, and to not take anything for granted.…”