Centenarian

A centenarian is a person who has attained the age of 100 years or more. The term is associated with longevity due to the fact that average life expectancies across the world are still 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 ancient book Genesis (chapter 5 verse 27) Methuselah managed to become 969 years old.

Some of the (nonapocryphal) claimants to longevity records are (see also: "Known for attaining high age below):

Jeanne Calment - 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
Christian Mortensen (1882-1998) - oldest male widely accepted by scholars
Habib Miyan - unauthenticated claim to be 132; believed by Indian court to be at least 125 (in 2003), having retired in 1938. If true--and assuming no other similarly unproven claim to be even older is also true-- then each day he lives would extend the human lifespan by one day.

In the United States, centenarians traditionally receive a letter from the president upon reaching their 100th birthday, congratulating them for their longevity. 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.

Table of contents

1 List of centenarians

1.1 Activists/non-profit leaders
1.2 Actors/filmmakers/entertainers
1.3 Artists
1.4 Authors/poets/journalists
1.5 Businessmen
1.6 Educators/school administrators
1.7 Explorers
1.8 Jurists/practitioners of law
1.9 Military commanders
1.10 Musicians/Composers/music patrons
1.11 Nobility
1.12 Philosophers/theologians
1.13 Politicians/government servants
1.14 Relative of someone well-known
1.15 Religious leaders/Clergymen
1.16 Royalty
1.17 Scientists/mathematicians
1.18 Sportspeople
1.19 Miscellaneous
1.20 Known for attaining high age

2 External links

List of centenarians

Here is a list of well-known centenarians (with supercentenarians 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"
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
Margaret Murie (1902-2003), conservationist
Scott Nearing (1883-1983)
Sanzo Nosaka (1892-1993)
Margarete Sch�tte-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)
George Burns (1896-1996)
Dorothy Dickson (1893-1995)
Mary Ellis (1897-2003)
Liane Haid (1895-2000)
Johannes Heesters (1903-Living)
Bob Hope (1903-2003)
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)
Se�or 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
Grandma Moses (1860-1961)
Beatrice Wood (1893-1998)

Authors/poets/journalists

Arthur Judson Brown (1856-1963)
Fulgence Charpentier (1897-2001), Canadian journalist and columnist
Nirad Chaudhuri (1897-1999)
Geoffrey Dearmer (1893-1996)
The Delany Sisters (1889-1999; 1891-1995)
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998)
Juan Filloy (1894-2000), Argentine writer
Dorothy Frooks (1896-1997)
Gregorio Fuentes (1897-2002)
Edward K. Gaylord (1873-1974), newspaper publisher and philanthropist
Ernst J�nger (1895-1998)
Joseph Nathan Kane (1899-2002)
Arthur Lehning (1899-2000), Dutch writer and anarchist-archivist
Fernando Pessa (1902-2002), Portuguese journalist and radio broadcaster
Carl Rakosi (1903-Living)
Robert St. John (1902-2003)
George Seldes (1890-1995)
Grace Zaring Stone (1891-1991), pseudonym: Ethel Vance
Walter Trohan (1903-2003), Chicago Tribune bureau chief and reporter
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)
James Stillman Rockefeller (1902-Living), First National City Bank of New York
Hermann von Siemens (1885-1986)
Sir Thomas Sopwith (1888-1989), aircraft pioneer
W. Clement Stone (1902-2002), insurance leader
Sir James Swinburne (1858-1958)
Abdul Majid Zabuli (1896-1998)

Educators/school administrators

John Morton-Finney (1889-1998)
Emily Howland (1827-1929)
Seymour Lubetzky (1898-2003), librarian
Millicent Carey McIntosh (1898-2001), President of Barnard College
Albert E. Meyzeek (1862-1963) "Dean of Negro Education"
Norman Walker Porteous (1898-2003), Dean at University of Edinburgh
Laura Woolsey Lord Scales (1879-1990), Dean at Smith College
Louis Round Wilson (1876-1979) librarian

Explorers

Alexandra David-N�el (1868-1969)
Ardito Desio (1897-2001)
Helge Ingstad (1899-2001)
Freya Stark (1893-1993)
Jean-Fr�d�ric Waldeck (1766-1875)

Jurists/practitioners of law

Sampson Salter Blowers (1742-1842)
William A. Bootle (1902-Living)
Melville Henry Cane (1879-1980), American lawyer and poet
Lord Alfred Denning (1899-1999), Master of the Rolls
Rush Limbaugh I (1891-1996)
Harold Raymond Medina (1888-1990)
L. Welch Pogue (1899-2003)
Hartley Shawcross (1902-2003)
Samuel Williston (1861-1963)
Joseph William Woodrough (1873-1977)

Military commanders

Aaron Bank (1902-Living), "Father of Special Forces"
Sir Philip Christison (1893-1993), British general
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 A. Van Fleet (1892-1992)
Sir Provo Wallis (1791-1892), Admiral of the Fleet

Musicians/Composers/music patrons

Irving Berlin (1888-1989), composer
Eubie Blake (1883/1887-1983) - may actually have only been 96
Irving Caesar (1895-1996)
Jimmie Davis (1899-2000), singer, songwriter, Governor of Louisiana
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)
Joseph Salemi (1902-2003), jazz trombonist
Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995)

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)

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), third President of Turkey
Samuel Brawand (1898-2001), Swiss politician
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
John Netherland Heiskell (1872-1972), 2nd US senator to reach 100 years
Naruhiko Higashikuni (1887-1990)
Christopher Hornsrud (1859-1960), Prime Minister of Norway
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
Eduard Bernard Andrzej 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
Ram�n Serrano Su�er (1901-2003), Spanish politician
Emanuel Shinwell (1884-1986)
Soong May-ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek) (1897-2003)
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)
David Wark (1804-1905)
Zhang Qun (1889-1990), Chinese politician
Zhang Xueliang (Chang Hs�eh-liang) (1901-2001)

Relative of someone well-known

Brooke Astor (1902-Living), wife of W. Vincent Astor
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
Richard Mudd (1901-2002), grandson of Samuel Mudd
Ruby Muhammad (1897-Living) wife of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad.

Religious leaders/Clergymen

Laban Ainsworth (1757-1858), American clergyman and pastor
Saint Anthony (251-356)
Corrado Cardinal Bafile (1903-Living)
Henry Boehm (1775-1875)
Arthur Judson Brown (1856-1963) American clergyman, missonary and author
Edward Howard (1877-1983), archbishop
John Linus Paschang (1895-1999), bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska
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-Living)
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900-2002)

Scientists/mathematicians

Charles G. Abbot (1872-1973), astronomer and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Wilson Baker, FRS (1900-2002) headed school of chemistry at University of Bristol, England
Arnold O. Beckman (1900-Living)
Su Buqing (1902-2003)
Michel-Eug�ne Chevreul (1786-1889)
Harriette Chick (1875-1977)
Rickard Christophers (1873-1978), protozoologist
William David Coolidge (1873-1975)
Gordon S. Fahrni (1887-1995)
Raymond Firth (1901-2002)
Viktor Hamburger (1900-2001)
Rudolf Hell (1901-2002)
Edward Augustus Holyoke (1728-1829)
Nathaniel Kleitman (1895-1999) discoverer of REM sleep
Paul E. Klopsteg (1889-1991)
Inge Lehmann (1888-1993)
Margaret Alice Murray (1863-1963)
Franco Rasetti (1901-2001)
Waldo Semon (1898-1999)
Dirk Jan Struik (1894-2000)
F. William Sunderman (1898-2003)
Leopold Vietoris (1891-2002), mathematician

Sportspeople

Constance M. K. Applebee (1873-1981), field hockey
Jacques Gerschwiler (1898-2000), figure skating
Fred W. Hooper (1897-2000), racehorse owner
Ted Radcliffe (also known as "Double Duty Radcliffe") (1902-Living)
Herman Smith-Johannsen (1875-1987), cross-country skiing
Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862-1965), American football
Leon Stukelj (1898-1999), olympian

Miscellaneous

Henri Dufaux (1879-1980), aviator

Eleanor Lambert (1903-2003), U.S. fashion pioneer
Irene Wells Pennington (1898-2003), multimillionaire oil widow
Connie Douglas Reeves (1901-2003), cowgirl
Saadi (1184-1283/1291)

Known for attaining high age

Thomas Parr (1483??-1635), lived for 152 years according to his gravestone at Westminster Abbey, but probably a conflation of grandfather and grandson.
Katherine Young (1901-Living), may be the oldest internet user
Charlotte Benkner (1889-Living), probably oldest now living

See also the list in supercentenarian, Last Surviving Veteran