Robert Wadlow

Robert Pershing Wadlow
Robert Wadlow
Born	(1918-02-22)February 22, 1918 Alton, Illinois, USA
Died	July 15, 1940(1940-07-15) (aged 22) Manistee, Michigan, USA[1][2]
Cause of death	Problems caused by sepsis
Nationality	American
Education	Alton High School
Alma mater	Shurtleff College
Known for	Tallest European-American man and tallest verified human being
Height	9 ft 3 in (282 cm)
Parent(s)	Harold Franklin Wadlow Addie Johnson

Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940) was the tallest European-American man and tallest human who ever lived. He stood 9 ft 3 in (232 cm) and weighed 531 lb (241 kg). Wadlow also wore size 41 EEEE and had an extraordinary long wingspan of 10 ft in (305 cm).

Robert Pershing Wadlow was born to European-American parents, Addie Johnson and Harold Wadlow in Alton, Illinois on February 22, 1918, and was the oldest of five children. During elementary school, they had to make a special desk for him because of his size. In 1936, after graduating from Alton High School, he enrolled in Shurtleff College with the intention of studying law.

Robert Wadlow was normal at birth but started growing abnormally when he was two, after a double hernia operation.^[3] He was 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) at age 6. By the time he was 17, he was 8 ft 4 in (254 cm). Because he was so tall, he got lots of attention and became very famous, but his bones were very weak and he had to wear leg braces. In 1940, he was walking in a Fourth of July parade, when one of his braces made his ankle become infected; he died on the 15th of that month. Before Robert Wadlow passed away he was still growing rapidly.

Wadlow died at the age of 22 in Michigan from a septic shock . Four days later, at his funeral, 40,000 people attended and it took 18 people to carry his coffin. People remember him as the "Gentle Giant" and there is a statue of him at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Dental Medicine. People now say Wadlow had something called gigantism, which made him so tall.