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 Bible, Methuselah lived to be 969 years old (Genesis 5:27). Today some maintain that the unusually high longevity of Biblical patriarchs are the result of an error in translation: lunar cycles were mistaken for the solar ones, and the actual ages are 13.5 times less. This gives 72 years for Methuselah, which is still an impressive number, bearing in mind the life expectancy of these times. This theory however, seems doubtful to others since patriarchs such as Mahalalel (ibid 5:15) and Enoch (ibid 5:21) were said to have become fathers after 65 "years." If the lunar cycle theory were accepted this would translate to an age of about 4 years and 10 months.
Some of the (nonapocryphal) claimants to longevity records are (see also: "Known for attaining high age" below):
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. Chinese emperors were hailed to live ten thousand years.
In the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, it is customary to wish someone "many years" on his or her saint's day, and also his or her birthday. Among cradle Orthodox and converts as well, the traditional song "God Grant You Many (Blessed) Years" is sung non-liturgically for someone's saint's day or birthday celebration.
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
Actors/filmmakers/entertainers
Artists
Authors/poets/journalists
Businessmen
Educators/school administrators
Explorers
Jurists/practitioners of law
Military commanders
- Aaron Bank (1902-2004), "Father of Special Forces"
- Sir Philip Christison (1893-1993), British general
- Henry Fancourt (1900-2004), Royal Navy officer, pioneering Naval Aviator
- 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 Alward Van Fleet (1892-1992), US general
- Sir Provo Wallis (1791-1892), Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy
Musicians/Composers/music patrons
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)
- Jean Pierre Francois Joseph Pineton, Marquis de Chambrun (1903-2004)
- Cora, Countess of Clancarty (1892-1993)
- Countess Elsa Bernadotte (1893-1996)
Philosophers/theologians
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
- Marinus van der Goes van Naters (1900-Living), Dutch politician
- John Netherland Heiskell (1872-1972), 2nd US senator to reach 100 years
- Naruhiko Higashikuni (1887-1990)
- Christopher Hornsrud (1859-1960), Prime Minister of Norway
- Piet Kasteel (1901-2003), Dutch diplomat, governor of Curaçao
- George F. Kennan (1904-Living), Cold War policy architect
- 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
- Ramón Serrano Suñer (1901-2003), Spanish politician
- Emanuel Shinwell (1884-1986)
- Soong May-ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek) (1898-2003)
- 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 Hsüeh-liang) (1901-2001)
- Xenophon Zolotas (1904-2004), former Prime Minister of Greece
Relative of someone well-known
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
- Archbishop Alfonso Carinci (1862-1963), official of the Roman Curia
- Edward Howard (1877-1983), archbishop
- Francesco Minerva (1904-2004), Archbishop emeritus of Lecce, Italy
- John Linus Paschang (1895-1999), bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska
- Sophronius IV of Alexandria (1798-1899), Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria
- 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
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 (1900-2004)
- Hans Erhard Bock (1903-living), German physician, Tübingen
- Su Buqing (1902-2003)
- Henri Cartan (1904-Living), mathematician
- Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889)
- Harriette Chick (1875-1977)
- Rickard Christophers (1873-1978), protozoologist
- William David Coolidge (1873-1975)
- Ray Crist (1900-Living), chemist, retired from teaching post in 2004
- Gordon S. Fahrni (1887-1995), physician, expert on goiter
- Raymond Firth (1901-2002)
- Viktor Hamburger (1900-2001)
- Rudolf Hell (1901-2002)
- Edward Augustus Holyoke (1728-1829)
- Ancel Keys (1904-Living)
- Nathaniel Kleitman (1895-1999), discoverer of REM sleep
- Paul E. Klopsteg (1889-1991)
- Jerome F. Lederer (1902-2004)
- Inge Lehmann (1888-1993)
- Ernst Mayr (1904-Living), biologist
- Margaret Alice Murray (1863-1963)
- Franco Rasetti (1901-2001)
- Waldo Semon (1898-1999)
- Brian Shaw (1898-1999), chemist famous for his lectures on explosives
- Dirk Jan Struik (1894-2000)
- F. William Sunderman (1898-2003)
- Leopold Vietoris (1891-2002), mathematician
- Zheng Ji (1900-Living) professor of Nanjing University, Chinese pioneer of nutriology and biochemistry.
Sportspeople
- Constance M. K. Applebee (1873-1981), field hockey
- Jacques Gerschwiler (1898-2000), figure skating
- Fred W. Hooper (1897-2000), racehorse owner
- Ulrich Inderbinen (1900-2004), mountain guide
- Keizo Miura (1904-Living), Japanese skier and ski instructor
- 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
Known for attaining high age
See also
