Emma Morano is now the oldest person in the world and last living person born in the 1800s, following the passing of Susannah Mushatt Jones, who was a few months older than her.
Ms. Morano is still with us. She had her 117th birthday last month. As of today she's 42,765 days old. That makes her the oldest Italian ever, the second-oldest European ever, and the 5th oldest person ever.
She was born when William McKinley was U.S. President and Umberto I was King of Italy. Also born that year: Ernest Hemingway, Alfred Hitchcock, and Pamela Lyndon Travers, who wrote
Mary Poppins.
By my calculations, if Emma Morano lives long enough, she'll become the 4th oldest person in history on July 17, 2017 (42,964 days old), the 3rd oldest on August 5, 2017 (42,983 days old), the 2nd oldest on March 6, 2019 (43,561 days old), and the oldest on May 13, 2022 (44,725 days old).
The oldest man lived to be only 42,422 days, or just over 116 years.
Waiting in the wings is the world's second-oldest person, who has a very colorful name: Violet Brown. She is the last former subject of Queen Victoria of England. If she lives until April 20, 2020, then her son will become the first centenarian with a living parent.