Meet Jeanne Louise Calment, the Oldest Verified Person in Recorded History

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Jeanne Louise Calment (February 21, 1875 – August 4, 1997) was a French supercentenarian who is the oldest person in recorded history whose age has been verified, with a documented lifespan of 122 years and 164 days. Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle. Calment is the only person in history who has been verified to have reached the age of 120 years.

According to census records, Calment outlived both her daughter and her grandson. In January 1988, she was widely reported to be the oldest living person in the world. In 1995, at age 120, she was declared to be the oldest person in history with a verified date of birth.

Living across three different centuries, Calment witnessed vast changes in the world. As a 13-year-old in 1888, she met the famous painter when he visited her father’s shop to buy colored pencils. She later recalled him being “scruffy, badly dressed, and disagreeable.” Calment was 14 years old when construction on the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889. She lived to see the birth of cinema, the invention of airplanes, and survived both World Wars.

When Calment was 90 years old, she entered into a French “viager” real estate agreement with a 47-year-old attorney. Under the contract, he agreed to pay her a monthly sum (around $500) for life, in exchange for taking ownership of her apartment after she died. Expecting her to pass away within a few years, the attorney instead ended up paying her for 30 years before dying himself at age 77. His widow was legally obligated to continue the payments for nearly three more years until Calment passed. Calment famously joked, “You’re never too old to make a good deal.”

Calment was renowned for her energetic, positive personality and sharp sense of humor. She regularly consumed nearly a kilogram of chocolate a week, drank Port wine, used copious amounts of olive oil, and smoked from age 21 until she finally quit at 117.

Coming from a wealthy family, she never had to work and spent her life swimming, playing piano, cycling (which she did until age 100), and fencing (which she picked up at 85).

When a reporter once told her, “I hope we meet again next year,” she quickly fired back, “Why not? You’re not that old, you’ll still be here!”