Guinness World Records Tallest Man - Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was 8 ft 11 in and lived in Alton, Illinois. He died July 15, 1940
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Robert Wadlow
Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940), sometimes known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, is the tallest person in history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. The Alton and Illinois monikers reflect the fact that he was born and grew up in Alton, Illinois.
Wadlow reached 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) in height and weighed 439 lb (199 kg) at his death at age 22. His great size and his continued growth in adulthood were due to hyperplasia of his pituitary gland, which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone. He showed no indication of an end to his growth even at the time of his death.
Alton, Illinois
Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about 15 miles (24 km) north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois. It is famous for its limestone bluffs along the river north of the city, for its role preceding and during the American Civil War, and as the hometown of jazz musician Miles Davis and Robert Wadlow, the tallest known man in history. It was the site of the last Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate in October 1858. The former state penitentiary here was used during the war to hold up to 12,000 Confederate prisoners of war.
The city has been labeled "The most haunted city in America" by paranormal enthusiasts, due to its claimed haunted hot spots, such as McPike Mansion and other structures. Most were built on foundations of stone taken from the former Civil War prison after it was abandoned. Confederate prisoners had suffered severe overcrowding, and many died during a smallpox epidemic. The city holds regular "ghost tours" and has been visited by television crews hoping to film proof of the paranormal.
Human height
Human height is the distance from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head in a human body, standing erect.
When populations share genetic background and environmental factors, average height is frequently characteristic within the group. Exceptional height variation (around 20% deviation from average) within such a population is sometimes due to gigantism or dwarfism, which are medical conditions caused by specific genes or endocrine abnormalities.
Geography of Illinois
Illinois is in the midwestern United States. Surrounding states are Wisconsin to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the west, Kentucky to the south, and Indiana to the east. Illinois also borders Michigan, but only via a northeastern water boundary in Lake Michigan. Nearly the entire western boundary is the Mississippi River, except for a few areas where the river has changed course. Illinois' southeastern and southern boundary is along the Wabash River and the Ohio River. Whereas, its northern boundary and much of its eastern boundary are straight survey (longitudinal and latitudinal) lines.
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U.S. editions as The Guinness Book of World Records), is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time. It is also one of the most frequently stolen books from public libraries in the United States.
The franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. The popularity of the franchise has resulted in Guinness World Records becoming the primary international authority on the cataloguing and verification of a huge number of world records – the organization employs official record adjudicators authorized to verify the setting and breaking of records.
Shurtleff College
Shurtleff College was founded 1827 in Alton, Illinois by Reverend John Mason Peck, a Baptist minister, as Alton Seminary. It was renamed Shurtleff College in 1836 honoring Dr. Brendon Shurtleff of Boston, who donated $10,000 to the college. In keeping with Baptist ideas about equality among men, it accepted students of all races and, by the later nineteenth century, women students as well as men.
In 1910 Andrew Carnegie, the prominent industrialist and philanthropist, donated $15,000 for construction of a library. The now national science and mathematics honor society, Sigma Zeta, was founded at Shurtleff College as a local organization to provide recognition for their science and mathematics students. In a letter that appeared in the correspondence section of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Chemical Education, Sigma Zeta was offered as an alternative for small colleges to the existing Sigma Xi honor society. It had often passed over small colleges for membership as it focused on larger universities. Shurtleff College was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1910-1937.
Human Interest
In journalism, a human interest story is a feature story that discusses a person or people in an emotional way. It presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a way that brings about interest, sympathy or motivation in the reader or viewer.
Human interest stories may be "the story behind the story" about an event, organization, or otherwise faceless historical happening, such as about the life of an individual soldier during wartime, an interview with a survivor of a natural disaster, a random act of kindness or profile of someone known for a career achievement.
Robert Pershing Wadlow
Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940), sometimes known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, is the tallest person in history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. The Alton and Illinois monikers reflect the fact that he was born and grew up in Alton, Illinois.
Wadlow reached 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) in height and weighed 439 lb (199 kg) at his death at age 22. His great size and his continued growth in adulthood were due to hyperplasia of his pituitary gland, which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone. He showed no indication of an end to his growth even at the time of his death.
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Illinois
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Bernard Coyne
Alton