title: Total immediate ancestral longevity (TIAL) score as a longevity indicator: an analysis on Einstein and three of his scientist peers.
abstract: The total immediate ancestral longevity (TIAL) score was first introduced by Raymond Pearl as a convenient parameter for quantitating human longevity. TIAL is the summed ages at death of the six immediate ancestors (namely parents and four grandparents) of a propositus. In this communication, I present the calculations of TIAL score for Einstein (1879--1955) and three of his scientist peers, namely Charles Darwin (1809--1882), Irene Joliot Curie (1897--1956) and Aage Bohr (1922--). The TIAL scores for Einstein, Darwin, Irene Curie and Aage Bohr were 390, 378, 372 and 436 respectively. These are markedly lower than 477 reported for Jeanne Calment, the French woman who died in 1997 at the oldest authenticated age of 122 years and 164 days. I conclude that the TIAL score is a convenient and easily quantifiable longevity parameter which anyone interested in determining his or her longevity can use to estimate a tentative number. More light could be shed on the worth of the TIAL score as a longevity indicator, if additional data on the TIAL scores of royalty and celebrities (for whom verified genealogical data are available) are reported.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Gifu City, Japan. kanthass@cc.gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sri Kantha
mesh_terms: D001695:Biology / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D010379:Peer Group; D010825:Physics / Q000266:history