Centennarian
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: 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.
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
Musicians/Composers/music patrons
Nobility
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
- John Netherland Heiskell (1872-1972), 2nd US senator to reach 100 years
- Naruhiko Higashikuni (1887-1990)
- Christopher Hornsrud (1859-1960), Prime Minister of Norway
- 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) (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 Hsüeh-liang) (1901-2001)
Relative of someone well-known
Religious leaders/Clergymen
Royalty
Scientists/mathematicians
Sportspeople
Miscellaneous
Known for attaining high age
See also: supercentenarian, Last Surviving Veteran, List of people who are nearly centenarians
External links
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