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World’s Oldest Person Gertrude Baines Dies at Age 115

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by Aaron Saenz on September 15th, 2009

The oldest person in the world, Gertrude Baines, just died at age 115

The oldest person in the world, Gertrude Baines, just died at age 115

In the search for longevity, we tend to focus on healthy lifestyles, miracle supplements, or potential technologies. It’s easy to forget the people who have accomplished that goal seemingly without the intention to do so. Gertrude Baines, the oldest person on Earth, passed away in Los Angeles on Friday September 11, 2009, at the tender age of 115. That, my friends, is old. Her title passes on to Kama Chinen in Japan, age 114, and still going strong. These supercentenarians give us hope that the dream of living longer (maybe forever) is a possible one.

There are ‘Blue Zones‘ on Earth were people live longer, and those populations seem to have much in common. We see simple lifestyles devoid of unnecessary stress, good diets that focus on fruits and veggies (not meats and sugars), and plenty of daily exercise. Supercentenarians, however, are as much about statistical anomalies as they are about trends. They don’t seem to have a lot in common besides agrarian backgrounds (but we’re talking about the 1890s here) and gender (most are women). Apparently one of Ms. Baines favorite foods was bacon and eggs.

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Just Like That, Sakhan Dosova No Longer World’s Oldest Person

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by keith kleiner on May 18th, 2009
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Was This woman Really 130 Years Old?

Last month we wrote about Sakhan Dosova, a woman from Kazakhstan who created a sensation when it was revealed that she might be 130 years old, easily making her the world’s oldest person.  Now, in one of life’s strange twists of irony, Sakhan Dosova has apparently broken her hip and died after a freak fall in her new flat.  With the death of Sakhan Dosova, American woman Gertrude Baines once again takes the reigns as the world’s oldest living person at 115.

Before her recent stardom Dosova apparently lived a simple life, eating simple foods, rarely seeking medical treatment, and avoiding many of the trappings of modern society.  But after Dosova’s age was revealed a few months ago and she became a world sensation all this changed.  The Daily Mail reported that Sakhan Dosova was recently given a new flat by officials in Kazakhstan who were embarrassed that the country’s overnight celebrity was living in overcrowded conditions with her impoverished family.  It sure is ironic to think that Dosova’s death may have been ushered in at least partly by her sudden departure from the simple life that had served her well for so many years.

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Is Sakhan Dosova The Oldest Person In The World?

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by keith kleiner on April 3rd, 2009

sakhan_dosova_oldest_personA census in Kazakhstan has reportedly uncovered a woman named Sakhan Dosova who has just turned 130 years old!  If confirmed, Dosova would be an incredible 15 years older than Gertrude Baines, an American woman who is just days away from turning 115 and currently holds the title as the world’s oldest confirmed living person.  Dosova would also shatter the record set by Jeanne Calment, whose 122 year lifespan is the longest documented lifespan beyond reasonable doubt.

So is it really true then?  It may be impossible to tell for certain, but there are some compelling clues.  Sakhan Dosova’s passport states that she was born in 1879 — the year Edison invented the lightbulb and Stalin and Einstein were born.  Demographers were astonished to find that she was also on Stalin’s first census of the region in 1926 when her age was given as 47.  An image (from the Daily Mail) of Dosova’s Kasakh identity card with a birth date of March 27, 1879 is shown below:

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Regardless of her exact age, Dosova is almost undoubtedly part of an exclusive club of individuals known as supercentenarians.  According to Wikipedia, these individuals have reached the age of 110 years or more, something achieved by only one in a thousand centenarians (based on European data). Furthermore, only 2% of supercentenarians live to be 115.  As human health and medicine continue to improve it will be interesting to see what many in the singularity community expect will be an explosion of individuals reaching supercentenarian status.

At the time of one of our earlier stories, Edna Parker was the oldest person in the world at age 115, but she has since passed away in Nov 2008.  A woman named Mariam Amash in Israel claims to be about 120 years old, but similar to the case of Sakhan Dosova, it may be impossible to prove.

Many may question whether it is possible to use medical forensics to verify the age of a person.  According to a Scientific American interview with Jay Olshansky, and expert on the topic, and answer is “no”.  An excerpt below:

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World’s Oldest Person?

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by keith kleiner on July 27th, 2008

I recently stumbled upon some articles on the oldest people alive and thought it would be interesting to post this information here at singularity hub:

The oldest person alive today (that can be verified against reasonable doubt) is Edna Parker, who turned 115 years old in April 2008. An interesting quote from the article:

“She has outlived both of her sons, and is one of 75 human beings in the world who have lived past the age of 110 years.”

Mariam Amash in Israel claims to be the oldest person alive at 120 years, but her age has not been confirmed reliably.

Wikipedia appears to have good information on the records for world’s oldest people. Jeanne Calment, who passed away in 1997, currently holds the record for longest documented lifespan at 122 years.

A supercentenarian is a person who has reached the age of 110 years or more, something achieved by only one in a thousand centenarians (based on European data). Furthermore, only 2% of supercentenarians live to be 115.

Picture from wickedlocal.com