Not everyone is convinced by these theories. Jean-Marie Robine, a gerontologist who helped to validate Jeanne’s age in the 1990s, tells Le Parisien the evidence is flimsy at best. “All of this is incredibly shaky and rests on nothing,” he says, pointing out that Jeanne was able to answer questions only she would have known the answers too, like the name of her math teacher, when he interviewed her. “Her daughter couldn’t have known that.”


It's a good thing gerontology is so well funded and its researchers didn't need to milk the momentary fame afforded them by a prominent old person or that level of pure horseshit might seem suspicious.