Robert Wadlow of Illinois became the tallest person on record—8 feet 11 inches when doctors measured him in 1940, at age 22. Born at normal size in 1918, he grew at an extraordinary pace, towering over his father by age eight. Despite obvious pressure from circus and sideshow operators of that era, Wadlow refused such exploitation. According to Boing Boing, he died just eighteen days after that final measurement.

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