Centenarian

A centenarian (from Latin: centēnārius, "of one hundred") is a term for a person (or any thing) that has lived to one hundred years of age, while the terms super-centenarian or ultra-centenarian would refer to those that survive past one hundred years.

Becoming a Centenarian

The likes of A. Victor Segno and Orrin Robertson, among others, sold books that promised to serve as guides to those seeking survival for one hundred years; while Hilton Hotema promised life "in three centuries" in his book The Secret of Long Life (1960), which, at minimum, would be one hundred and two years, supposing one was born in the last year of one century, lived through a single century, then into the first year of the following century.

The famed inventor Nikola Tesla promoted whiskey for longevity, according to O'Neill's biography Prodigal Genius (1944), apparently considering it "a very beneficial source of energy and an invaluable means for prolonging life," and believed that it would allow him "to live to one hundred and fifty."

Super-centenarians (confirmed and alleged)

Conventional understanding suggests that super-centenarian (ultra-centenarian) lifespans are extraordinarily rare in human beings, representing a fractional percentage of the total population of the living and deceased, estimated in 2019 to be 0.0068% out of the 7.8 billion supposed to be alive today (if one accepts such figures).

• Stephen Joice, who in 1904 claimed to be 148 years old, appeared in advertisements for Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey, quoted as saying it "serves as a superb tonic and general renovator."
• Saparman Sodimejo (d. 30 April 2017), also known as Mbah Gotho (Grandpa Gotho), an Indonesian man who claimed to have been born in 1870, which would have made him 146 at the time of his death.[1]
• Leon DeSeblo (1874-1981), an American touring lecturer who promoted a variety of methods for extending human longevity, including chlorella supplements

Reading

• Maier, H.; Gampe, J.; Jeune, B. et al., eds. (2010), Supercentenarians, Demographic Research Monographs, Germany: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, http://www.demogr.mpg.de/en/projects_publications/publications_1904/monographs/supercentenarians_3866.htm