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According to the Bible, Methuselah was the oldest person who ever lived. He reportedly reached the age of 969 years. According to Genesis 5:27: And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. (ASV)
He is mentioned in Genesis as the son of Enoch and the father of Lamech (father of Noah), who he fathered at the age of 195. His name has become a general synonym for any living creature of great age. A close reading of the dates in the Old Testament reveals that Methuselah is said to have died the year of the Great Flood. According to fundamentalists who read the biblical accounts literally, the reason for the longevity of Methusaleh and other figures in the first several chapters of Genesis is that a protective layer covered the Earth and filtered out harmful ultraviolet and other rays from the sun. Such scholars maintain that the water from the Great Flood came from this layer, and that this is why it is no longer present in the atmosphere.
Robert Heinlein wrote a science fiction series about rejuvenation and a project called the 'Howard family' that was working to extend the human lifespan beyond 150 years - the first volume was called Methuselah's Children.
Our current knowledge on cellular lifespan puts the natural limit on human longevity well below 150 years. Guiness Records of longevity oscillate from year to year in the range 110-125 due to miserable birth certification record from the late 19th century. Guiness Record statistics are soon likely to reveal the approximate true natural human lifespan limit.
- Methuselah is a bottle size for champagne, equivalent to eight ordinary bottles.
- Methuselah is the name of a 4700-year-old bristlecone pine in California. It is the oldest known living tree.
- A Methuselah is a configuration in Conway's Game of Life which is 'alive' for a large number of generations before reverting to a quiescent state.
- Methuselah is the nickname of the 12.7-billion-year-old extrasolar planet PSR B1620-26 b. See Methuselah (planet) for details.
