List of the verified oldest men

This is a list of the 100 verified oldest men, arranged in descending order of each individual's age in years and days. A year typically refers to a calendar year, the time between two dates with the same name. However, years may be of different lengths due to the presence or absence of a leap day within the year, or to the conversion of dates from one calendar to another. A supercentenarian is considered 'verified' if his or her claim has been validated by an international body that specifically deals in longevity research, such as the Gerontology Research Group.

The oldest man ever, whose age has been verified, is Jiroemon Kimura, a Japanese man who died on 12 June 2013 at the age of 116 years, 54 days. There are twoverified living supercentenarians on this list, both of whom live in Japan, the older of whom is Sakari Momoi, age 112 years, 87 days.

100 verified oldest men

      Deceased       Living

Rank	Name	Birth date	Death date	Age (at death, or as of 3 May 2015)	Place of death or residence
1	Jiroemon Kimura	19 April 1897	12 June 2013	116 years, 54 days	Japan
2	Christian Mortensen	16 August 1882	25 April 1998	115 years, 252 days	United States[a]
3	Emiliano Mercado del Toro	21 August 1891	24 January 2007	115 years, 156 days	Puerto Rico
4	Mathew Beard	9 July 1870	16 February 1985	114 years, 222 days	United States
5	Walter Breuning	21 September 1896	14 April 2011	114 years, 205 days	United States
6	Yukichi Chuganji	23 March 1889	28 September 2003	114 years, 189 days	Japan
7	Joan Riudavets	15 December 1889	5 March 2004	114 years, 81 days	Spain
8	Fred Hale	1 December 1890	19 November 2004	113 years, 354 days	United States
9	Johnson Parks	15 October 1884	17 July 1998	113 years, 275 days	United States
10	Tomoji Tanabe	18 September 1895	19 June 2009	113 years, 274 days	Japan
11	John Ingram McMorran	19 June 1889	24 February 2003	113 years, 250 days	United States
12	Frederick Frazier	27 January 1880	14 June 1993	113 years, 138 days	United States
13	James Sisnett	22 February 1900	23 May 2013	113 years, 90 days	Barbados[b]
14	Walter Richardson	7 November 1885	25 December 1998	113 years, 48 days	United States
15	Henry Allingham	6 June 1896	18 July 2009	113 years, 42 days	United Kingdom
16	Antonio Todde	22 January 1889	3 January 2002	112 years, 346 days	Italy
17	Moses Hardy	6 January 1894	7 December 2006	112 years, 335 days	United States
18	John Evans	19 August 1877	10 June 1990	112 years, 295 days	United Kingdom
19	George Francis	6 June 1896	27 December 2008	112 years, 204 days	United States
20	Denzo Ishizaki	20 October 1886	29 April 1999	112 years, 191 days	Japan
21	Josep Armengol	23 July 1881	20 January 1994	112 years, 181 days	Spain
22	Giovanni Frau	29 December 1890	19 June 2003	112 years, 172 days	Italy
23	John Painter	20 September 1888	1 March 2001	112 years, 162 days	United States
24	Alphaeus Philemon Cole	12 July 1876	25 November 1988	112 years, 136 days	United States
25	Augusto Moreira	6 October 1896	13 February 2009	112 years, 130 days	Portugal
26	George Johnson	1 May 1894	30 August 2006	112 years, 121 days	United States
27	Salustiano Sanchez	8 June 1901	13 September 2013	112 years, 97 days	United States[c]
28	Sakari Momoi[1]	5 February 1903	Living[1]	112 years, 87 days	Japan
29	Gengan Tonaki	30 October 1884	24 January 1997	112 years, 86 days	Japan
30	Yasutaro Koide[1]	13 March 1903	Living[1]	112 years, 51 days	Japan
31	Tadanosuke Hashimoto	27 April 1891	31 May 2003	112 years, 34 days	Japan
32	Kumekichi Tani	20 April 1891	12 May 2003	112 years, 22 days	Japan
33	James Wiggins	15 October 1879	16 October 1991	112 years, 1 day	United States
34	Arturo Licata	2 May 1902	24 April 2014	111 years, 357 days	Italy
35	Walter H. Seward	13 October 1896	14 September 2008	111 years, 337 days	United States
36	Maurice Floquet	25 December 1894	10 November 2006	111 years, 320 days	France
37	James McCoubrey	13 September 1901	5 July 2013	111 years, 295 days	United States[d]
38	John Mosely Turner	15 June 1856	21 March 1968	111 years, 280 days	United Kingdom
39	Hermann Dörnemann	27 May 1893	2 March 2005	111 years, 279 days	Germany
40	Antonio Urrea	18 February 1888	15 November 1999	111 years, 270 days	Spain
41	Arthur Carter	5 October 1889	11 June 2001	111 years, 249 days	United States
42	Jan Machiel Reyskens	11 May 1878	7 January 1990	111 years, 241 days	Netherlands[e]
43	Joe Thomas	1 May 1875	14 December 1986	111 years, 227 days	United States
44	James Zackry	15 August 1881	14 March 1993	111 years, 211 days	United States
45	Tanekichi Onishi	15 February 1900	11 September 2011	111 years, 208 days	Japan
46	Kiyoshi Igarashi	2 August 1897	23 February 2009	111 years, 205 days	Japan
47	Herman Smith-Johannsen	15 June 1875	5 January 1987	111 years, 204 days	Norway
48	Ernest Pusey	5 May 1895	19 November 2006	111 years, 198 days	United States
49	Thomas Nelson, Sr.	8 July 1895	9 January 2007	111 years, 185 days	United States
50	Jokichi Ikarashi	26 January 1902	23 July 2013	111 years, 178 days	Japan
51	Earl Brush	17 July 1893	10 January 2005	111 years, 177 days	United States
52	Antonio de Castro	6 January 1898	22 June 2009	111 years, 167 days	Portugal
53	Sukesaburo Nakanishi	15 March 1896	22 August 2007	111 years, 160 days	Japan
54	Luther Goding	1 July 1884	5 December 1995	111 years, 157 days	United States
55	Jan Pieter Bos	12 July 1891	15 December 2002	111 years, 156 days	Netherlands
56	Emile Fourcade	29 July 1884	29 December 1995	111 years, 153 days	France[f]
57	Benjamin Harrison Holcomb	3 July 1889	2 December 2000	111 years, 152 days	United States
58	Aarne Arvonen	4 August 1897	1 January 2009	111 years, 150 days	Finland
59	George Frederick Ives	17 November 1881	12 April 1993	111 years, 146 days	Canada[g]
60	Jan Goossenaerts	30 October 1900	21 March 2012	111 years, 143 days	Belgium
61	Garland Adair	30 July 1898	11 December 2009	111 years, 134 days	United States
62	Anders Engberg	1 July 1892	6 November 2003	111 years, 128 days	Sweden
63	Alexander Imich	4 February 1903	8 June 2014	111 years, 124 days	United States[h]
64	Jack Lockett	22 January 1891	25 May 2002	111 years, 123 days	Australia[i]
65	Henry Hartmann	14 July 1894	10 November 2005	111 years, 119 days	United States
66	Shelby Harris	31 March 1901	25 July 2012	111 years, 116 days	United States
67	Daniel Guzmán-García	6 February 1897	21 May 2008	111 years, 105 days	Colombia
68	Sadayoshi Tanabe	20 October 1888	18 January 2000	111 years, 90 days	Japan
69	Makaru Nakanishi	15 December 1901	28 February 2013	111 years, 75 days	Japan
70	Henry Pfeiffer	22 March 1881	23 May 1992	111 years, 62 days	United States
71	Zachariah Blackistone	16 February 1871	18 April 1982	111 years, 61 days	United States
72	Antonio Baldo	6 July 1887	28 August 1998	111 years, 53 days	Italy
73	Edward Bernard	22 June 1889	11 August 2000	111 years, 50 days	United States
74	Francisco Fernández	24 July 1901	7 September 2012	111 years, 45 days	Spain
75	Norio Kawada	25 April 1892	6 June 2003	111 years, 42 days	Japan
76	Kama Nakasone	23 November 1891	1 January 2003	111 years, 39 days	Japan
77	Harry Patch	17 June 1898	25 July 2009	111 years, 38 days	United Kingdom
78	Peter Solum	3 May 1882	5 June 1993	111 years, 33 days	United States
79	Masao Kaga	1 June 1902	26 June 2013	111 years, 25 days	Japan
80	Giovanni Ligato	18 February 1901	2 March 2012	111 years, 13 days	Italy
81	Domenico Minervino	10 May 1880	22 May 1991	111 years, 12 days	Italy
82	Nijiro Tokuda	10 June 1895	12 June 2006	111 years, 2 days	Japan
83	Valentino Stella	2 January 1886	1 January 1997	110 years, 365 days	Italy
84	Giichi Okumura	18 October 1896	13 October 2007	110 years, 360 days	Japan
85	Charles Shebanek	9 September 1883	27 August 1994	110 years, 352 days	United States
86	Antonio Pierro	22 February 1896	8 February 2007	110 years, 351 days	United States[j]
87	Carl Berner	27 January 1902	7 January 2013	110 years, 346 days	United States[k]
88	Gregory Pandazes	15 January 1873	22 December 1983	110 years, 341 days	United States[l]
	Eiju Tsuru	4 February 1879	11 January 1990	110 years, 341 days	Japan
90	Charlie Nelson	21 September 1867	20 August 1978	110 years, 333 days	United States
	Yoshio Nakagawa	19 December 1901	16 November 2012	110 years, 333 days	Japan
92	Masatake Kinoshita	20 August 1897	17 July 2008	110 years, 332 days	Japan
93	Linus Reinhart	28 July 1892	14 June 2003	110 years, 321 days	United States
94	Lloyd Myers	20 March 1892	1 February 2003	110 years, 318 days	United States
95	Frank Ahmann	11 May 1889	22 March 2000	110 years, 316 days	United States
96	Leopold Vietoris	4 June 1891	9 April 2002	110 years, 309 days	Austria
97	Takashi Hattori	12 March 1898	12 January 2009	110 years, 306 days	Japan
98	Walter Wilcox	1 November 1872	11 August 1983	110 years, 283 days	United States
99	Galo Leoz	22 April 1879	23 January 1990	110 years, 276 days	Spain
100	A.L.M.[2]	11 April 1879	1 January 1990	110 years, 265 days	Spain

a^ Mortensen was born in Denmark.
b^ Sisnett was born in Barbados, which was at the time of his birth a British colony; now it is an independent country.
c^ Sanchez was born in Spain.
d^ McCoubrey was born in Newfoundland, which was then a separate British colony in 1901. It is now a part of Canada.
e^ Reyskens was born in Belgium.
f^ Fourcade was born in French Algeria; it is now Algeria.
g^ Ives was born in the United Kingdom.
h^ Imich was born in Częstochowa, which was then a part of the Russian Empire. It is now in Poland.
i^ Lockett was born in the former British colony Victoria, which is now part of Australia.
j^ Pierro was born in Italy.
k^ Berner was born in Germany.
l^ Pandazes was born in Greece.

The War of the Worlds

On the evening of October 30, 1938, the audience listening to CBS Radio were told they were going to be treated to the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra, broadcast live from the Meridian Room at the Park Plaza in New York City. The performance began, but mere minutes into it a reporter from Intercontinental Radio News interrupted to deliver an important announcement. Astronomers had just detected enormous blue flames shooting up from the surface of Mars.

An undated edition of H.G. Wells' story, from Whitman Publishing. 
Probably from the 1940s.

The broadcast returned to the music of Ramon Raquello, but soon it was interrupted again with more news. Now a strange meteor had fallen to earth, impacting violently on a farm near Grovers Mill, New Jersey. A reporter was soon on hand to describe the eerie scene around the meteor crater, and the broadcast switched over to continuous coverage of this rapidly unfolding event.

To the dismay of the terrified radio audience, the events around the Grovers Mill meteor crater rapidly escalated from the merely strange to the positively ominous. It turned out that the meteor was not a meteor. It was, in fact, a spaceship, out of which a tentacled creature, presumably a Martian, emerged and blasted the onlookers with a deadly heat-ray. 

The Martian sunk back into the crater, but reemerged soon afterwards housed inside a gigantic, three-legged death machine. The Martian quickly disposed of 7,000 armed soldiers surrounding the crater, and then it began marching across the landscape, joined by other Martians. The Martian invaders blasted people and communication lines with their heat-rays, while simultaneously releasing a toxic black gas against which gas masks proved useless.

Mass Panic

Orson Welles in the CBS studios during the broadcast.

Believing that the nation had been invaded by Martians, many listeners panicked. Some people loaded blankets and supplies in their cars and prepared to flee. One mother in New England reportedly packed her babies and lots of bread into a car, figuring that "if everything is burning, you can't eat money, but you can eat bread." Other people hid in cellars, hoping that the poisonous gas would blow over them. One college senior drove forty-five miles at breakneck speed in a valiant attempt to save his girlfriend.

By the time the night was over, however, almost all of these people had learned that the news broadcast was entirely fictitious. It was simply the weekly broadcast of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre. That week, in honor of Halloween, they had decided to stage a highly dramatized and updated version of H.G. Wells' story, The War of the Worlds.

The broadcast reached a huge audience, demonstrating the enormous reach of radio at that time. Approximately six million people heard it. Out of this number it was long thought that almost one million people panicked. More recent research, however, suggests that the number of people who panicked is probably far lower. In fact, some skeptics contend that the idea that the broadcast touched off a huge national scare is more of a hoax than the broadcast itself, which was never intended to fool anyone. (At four separate points during the broadcast, including the beginning, it was clearly stated that what people were hearing was a play.) The idea that hundreds of thousands of people panicked may have arisen because the media exaggerated the figures in order to dramatize the panic.

Reasons for belief

In this famous photo, New Jersey farmer Bill Dock prepares to fight off the invading Martians. The image was actually posed by a Life Magazine photographer a few days after the panic.

Despite the contention that the panic may not have been as widespread as originally thought, many people undeniably did panic. What might have caused them to believe that the broadcast was real?

First, many people tuned in late and missed the announcement made at the beginning of the broadcast that what followed was merely a staged dramatization. By the time a second disclaimer was made, the most alarming portion of the play had already been broadcast.

Second, the global situation in 1938 provided a context that allowed many to believe such a series of events could be unfolding. Tensions in Europe were rising, and it had been very common during the previous three months for radio broadcasts to be interrupted by reporters delivering ominous news from Europe. Many who panicked later explained they had assumed the Martian invasion was a cleverly disguised German attack.

Most of those who panicked were middle-aged or older. Younger listeners tended not to panic because they recognized Orson Welles's voice as the voice of the hero in the popular radio series, The Shadow.

Later Panics

The 1938 broadcast was not the only time a dramatized broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds was mistaken for an account of real events. In November 1944 the play caused a similar panic when it was broadcast in Santiago, Chile, and in February 1949 it once again stirred up unrest when it was performed by a radio station in Quito, Ecuador. The situation in Ecuador provoked an angry mob to surround the radio station and burn it to the ground.

How to hear the broadcast

The original 1938 Mercury Theatre broadcast of the War of the Worlds has been archived and can now be heard on the internet at EarthStation1.com. 

War of the Worlds Haiku (Submitted by Hoax Museum visitors)

The night has grown still. Nothing stirs but that Martian blasting its heat ray. (by AB)	Tripods fire their beams Spreading death and destruction Across the landscape.  (by bobbaxter)
You silly people! Don't you think you'd see a sign if aliens came?  (by Alia)	Aliens shoot, zap and destroy This is surely the end of time. But no, it was a ploy. (by Cuke)

The Boy with the Golden Tooth

In 1593 reports began to spread of a young boy in Silesia, seven-year-old Christoph Müller, who had grown a golden tooth. Jakob Horst, a professor of medicine at Julius University in Helmstedt, decided to investigate. He found the boy did indeed have a gold tooth set firmly in his jaw. Tests with a touchstone (a small tablet of dark stone on which soft metals such as gold leave a visible trace) confirmed the gold was real, though not as high quality, Horst noted, as Hungarian gold. 


Horst wrote a 145-page treatise about the case, De aureo dente maxillari pueri Silesii (Of the Golden Tooth of the Boy from Silesia), in which he attributed the golden tooth to astrological causes. He noted that the boy was born on December 22, 1585, when there was an unusual alignment of the planets that must have increased the heat of the sun, causing the bone in the boy's jaw to turn to gold. He also argued that the tooth was a portent of important events to come: the dawn of a new golden age for the Holy Roman Empire. However, because the tooth was located on the boy's left side, considered to be the sinister side, the golden age would be preceded by many calamities.

Jakob Horst's De aureo dente maxillari pueri Silesii

Not all doctors agreed with Horst's opinion. Duncan Liddell, a Scottish physician living in Helmstedt, published his own analysis of the case, Tractatus de dente aureo pueri Silesiani, in which he argued that the boy's golden tooth had to be man-made.

Time confirmed Liddell's analysis to be correct. The daily pressure of chewing, combined with the repeated tests with a touchstone, wore down the gold enough to reveal that it was merely a thin layer of metal skillfully fitted over the boy's tooth. At first the boy attempted to conceal this by refusing to allow any more learned gentlemen to examine his tooth. However, a drunken nobleman became enraged when his request to see the tooth was refused, and he stabbed the boy in the cheek. When a doctor came to suture the wound, he discovered the fraud.

Christoph was taken to prison, and the man who fitted the gold layer over his tooth reportedly fled. But despite having been created for deceptive, not therapeutic, reasons, the golden tooth earned a distinguished place in the history of dentistry. It is considered to be the first documented case of the creation of a gold crown for a tooth.