French Jeanne Louise Calment

Since 1997 Jeanne Louise Calment of Arles, France, has been touted as having lived a documented age of 122 years 164 days. Well guess what? A Russian researcher recently raised questions about the authenticity of that documentation. Russian Gerontologist Valery Novoselov, who initially called for the investigation into the documentation of Jeanne's age, said he first became suspicious because Jeanne didn't fit typical data trends. A 2018 study suggests that the woman known as Jeanne Louise Calment may actually have been Jeanne's daughter, Yvonne, who may have assumed her mother's identity after her death in 1934 in order to not have to pay the inheritance taxes. The only way to solve this potential mystery is to exhume Jeanne and her daughter Yvonne and see which is which and who is who. Imagine the uproar if the Russian researcher’s theory is correct, as the city of Arles, France has received a great deal of attention because of Jeanne Louis Calment. More tomorrow.