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Jeanne Calment, the Secret of Longevity Unravelled: Volume II, The Evidence: How we know that the “oldest person who ever lived” was faking her age Kindle Edition

by Nikolay Zak (Author), Philip Gibbs (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating
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In 2018-2019 evidence emerged that Jeanne Calment’s outlying record longevity claim could be invalid. According to an old hypothesis revitalised by Nikolay Zak, Mme Calment who died in 1997 with a validated age of 122 years and 164 days, was in fact Jeanne Calment’s daughter Yvonne who had masqueraded as her mother since 1934 when Yvonne was reported to have died.

The hypothesis was supported by circumstantial evidence including clear inconsistencies in Mme Calment’s celebrated claim to have met Van Gogh and her testimony that she was escorted to school by a maid Marthe Fousson that records show could only be true for Yvonne.

Four years on we investigate the case with the addition of new finds that strengthen the reasons to believe in the identity switch. This includes new examples of signatures that show a dramatic change of Jeanne’s autograph from the year before her daughter’s death, and testimony from the family of Dr. Gilbert indicating that it was Jeanne who was ill with tuberculosis in 1931 rather than Yvonne.

In January 2022 INSERM released digital copies of 15 hours of audio recordings of interviews with Jeanne Calment from 1992 to 1996 that were used by her validation team to confirm her authenticity. We have analysed these tapes and find numerous examples of identity slips and inconsistencies ignored by the validators in their books. The original interviews show that the revalidation of Calment’s record performed by her supporters in 2019 was partially based on inaccurate representation of what she said.

In this trilogy we untangle the real biographies of Jeanne and Yvonne, presenting an exhaustive study of their lives and subsequent controversy and investigations. We contend that our new evidence provides overwhelming support for the identity switch hypothesis. We also refute counterclaims made by the original validators and their supporters. Jeanne Calment’s longevity is a key demographic data point frequently cited in the gerontology literature. It has influenced projections of future life expectancy and could have helped shape retirement age policy in Europe.

We call on French authorities to instigate DNA tests that would definitively settle the scientifically important question of her longevity. We argue that her case is still exceptionally interesting because it demonstrates how easily a small lie can grow, spread, and become universally accepted. This extraordinary story should be studied, but it belongs to the field of human psychology, not gerontology.
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  1. Book 2 of 6
    Jeanne Calment, the Secret of Longevity Unravelled
  2. Print length
    496 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    27 Oct. 2022
  6. File size
    18814 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BKV21W1C
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 18814 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • Customer reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
1 global rating

Top review from United Kingdom

Reviewer8933
5.0 out of 5 stars How did the validators miss this?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2022
482 pages of evidence from her recorded testimony. The "oldest person ever" reveals the truth about what happened in 1934.
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