Robert Wadlow

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Robert Wadlow with his father, 1937

Robert Pershing Wadlow (born February 22, 1918 in Alton , Illinois , † July 15, 1940 in Manistee Township , Michigan ) was 2.72 meters tall, the tallest person in medical history whose height is clearly documented.

Life

Statue of Robert Wadlow

Robert Pershing Wadlow was the first of five children of Addie and Harold Wadlow. His birth weight was 3.79 kilograms. His siblings, two sisters (Helen and Betty) and two brothers (Eugene and Harold Jr.), were of normal height. At the age of four Robert already measured 1.63 m, at 8 years he towered over his father, who was 1.82 m tall, at 10 years he was 2.00 m, and at 13 it was 2.24 m. At the end of his life his height was 2.72 meters; he weighed just under 200 kilograms. The measurement was taken 18 days before his death at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis on June 27, 1940.

A pituitary adenoma , a tumor that secretes large amounts of growth hormones, was responsible for the growth . The rapid growth damaged his bones and required him to wear greaves for support.

He died of an infection on July 15, 1940 at the age of 22. He was buried in his hometown of Alton, Illinois in a three foot coffin carried by twelve men. A life-size statue, which is also in Alton ( ▼ ), commemorates him .

Wadlow's original shoe.

As the tallest person, he was included in the Guinness Book of Records . His arm span was 288 cm. He also holds the record for the largest hands (32.3 cm from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger) and the largest feet (47 cm), which is a size 76 shoe .

Robert Wadlow has been an active member of the Freemasons ' League since his youth , he joined the Masonic youth organization, the De Molay Order , and was accepted into the Franklin Lodge # 25 in Alton, Illinois in 1939 .

See also

literature

  • The New Guinness Book of Records 1986, Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1985, pp. 56–57, ISBN 3-550-07736-X

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ World's Tallest Man Statue. Accessed February 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ The greatest freemason in the world by Ivan Wojnikow on the pages of the Winkel Maß blog www.masonic-art-shop.de/winkelmass-das-unabhaengige-freimaurer-magazin/ (accessed on March 15, 2017)
  3. ^ Robert Wadlow "worlds tallest mason" Illinois Freemasonry Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 1, winter 2009 (p. 5)

Web links

Commons : Robert Wadlow  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wadlow, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wadlow, Robert Pershing (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American man, greatest recorded person in history
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Alton , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1940
Place of death Manistee Township , Michigan