Robert Young

Robert Douglas Young is a gerontology consultant and researcher best known for validating supercentenarian cases and debunking longevity claims. He is the current Senior Consultant for Gerontology for Guinness World Records (since 2005) and the Co-Director for the Gerontology Research Group (since 2015). Young has worked on several books, including Guinness World Records editions 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005 and 1997, World Almanac 2004, The Wisdom of the World's Oldest People (2005), by Jerry Friedman (whose photographic exhibits of supercentenarians were presented at the United Nations in July 2006), and Living in Three Centuries (2006), by Mark Story. Young graduated summa cum laude from Georgia State University in 2006, with a Bachelor of History degree and an Undergraduate Certificate in Gerontology. In August 2008, Young obtained a Master of Arts in Gerontology degree from Georgia State University. Young obtained a second Masters in History at GSU in 2011, with a concentration in World History endorsement. Young's interdisciplinary approach, combining gerontology and history, led to such works as the history of extreme longevity tracking, the history of longevity mythology, and the like. Robert has, since 1999, maintained lists of the world's oldest people for the Gerontology Research Group (becoming the main person in charge of the data since May 2002), and has also worked with the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, the New England Centenarian Study and the Social Security Administration to establish global databases on the world's oldest people. Jean-Marie Robine of France, validator of the Jeanne Calment case, worked with INSERM to establish the International Database on Longevity in 2005. Young is now a listed contributor as of 2010.