World Records #1
The Takeaway
The tallest person in recorded history was Robert Wadlow of the United States. He stood 2.72 metres tall, and more than 80 years later, the record has still not been broken.
Here is the record, in brief.
Robert Wadlow was last measured on June 27, 1940. At that point, his height was 2.72 metres.
A typical door is about 2 metres high. In other words, he could not merely fail to pass through an ordinary doorway — his head would stick out 72 centimetres above it.
Compared with the average height of an adult Japanese man, he was roughly a full metre taller. A basketball hoop stands 3.05 metres high, and his head came to within just 33 centimetres of it.
Wadlow was born in 1918 in the American state of Illinois. He was an ordinary baby at birth, but from early childhood his body began to grow at an extraordinary pace.
The cause was a condition in which the pituitary gland in his brain produced too much growth hormone. In most people, height stops increasing once the growth years end. In his case, it never stopped.
What is more, at the time of that final measurement he was still only 22 years old, and records say his height was still increasing. How tall he might ultimately have become, no one can know.
A large body also carried large burdens. In July 1940, a sore caused by the brace supporting his leg became infected, and he died at the age of 22.
In the more than 80 years since, no one has even equalled this record. The tallest living person today is Sultan Kösen of Turkey, at 2.51 metres.
Even so, there is a 21-centimetre gap between him and Wadlow. The figure of 2.72 metres remains quietly in place as the very limit of how large the human body can grow.
References
- Guinness World Records, “Robert Wadlow: Tallest man ever”
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