When 18 - class - one-time Adam Rainer went toenlistin the Austro - Hungarian Army in 1917 , he intended to lend his services — and maybe his life — campaign in World War I. But army officials blanched at Rainer ’s stature . He was no more than 4 foot , 6 inches grandiloquent , which check theclinical thresholdfor nanism . Rainer was turned away .
Had those same military personnel regard him just a few years later , they would have probably fail to recognize him . Incredibly , Rainer grew to be over 7 foot tall , a feat of physiology that later led Guinness World Records to give him the title of the man with the “ most variable height ” in chronicle .
Photographs that are purport to be of Rainer regularly circulate online . While these images havedubiousorigins and captions — few seem to really show Rainer , at either of his utmost height measurements — his incredible growth spurt has been well document . The likely cause was acromegaly .
This disorder of the pituitary secreter , often because of an otherwise benign neoplasm , can induce a sharp increase in growth internal secretion secernment , leading to oversized features ( hands , feet , or face ) as well as stature . It ’s the same condition that André Roussimoff , easily known asAndré the Giant , had ; he used his 7 groundwork , 1 inch frame to keen achiever in the world of professional wrestling .
Rainer did n’t have such opportunities , because his early life accept no reading he would grow to be such an imposing front . hold in 1899 in Graz , Austria , Rainer was below average height well into adulthood , with chronicle localize him anywhere between 3 feet , 5 inches and 4 feet , 6 inches by the meter he assay to join the regular army .
Accordingto the footling People of America advocacy group , this would have placed Rainer under its definition of dwarfism , which can be a aesculapian or genetic stipulation that ensue in short height and either proportionate or disproportionate body and tree branch .
There were clues , however , that Rainer ’s size of it was not so easily classified . concord to Guinness , his hand and feet were average - sized , with a shoe size of 10 . Then , improbably , they continued to grow with the rest of him , finally reaching a size 20 .
“ The parents were of average height,”wrotephysician Dr. Oscar Hirsch while attending to Rainer in 1930 . “ At the age of 21 he started to grow rapidly , particularly his hands and feet , and also his head . He needed full lid and larger shoe . ”
Rainer ’s emergence spurt survive well over a decade . From historic period 21 to 31 , he develop an average of 3 inches per year , finally slowing once he reached 7 feet , 1 in in height . As a result of the acromegaly , his facial features grew exaggerated , and he commence to develop a pronounced curvature of his spine . Though acromegaly was n’t well understood at the sentence , doctors realized it would be best to interpose before Rainer began to have serious complications .
In 1930 , Hirsch do an operation to remove the pituitary tumor and , hopefully , staunch his increment . Rainer come through the then - risky subprogram , but the upset was n’t eliminate completely . His spur was still commit him problem , and he continued to turn , albeit more slow than before . Between 1932 and 1950 , he gained another 7 inches of superlative .
Some reports discover Rainer as being decrepit later in life , though this is n’t exactly true . He could manage for himself despite the discomfort of his sizing . After spending several long time in Austria , he entered an aided living adroitness , where he quell until his death from a punch intestine on February 3 , 1950 .
How could one mankind ’s stature go from one extreme point to the other ? Hirsch speculated that the pituitary tumor did n’t develop until Rainer turned 20 . Prior to that , his thyroid occasion was abnormal , contributing to his lack of growth .
Though Rainer ’s profile was telling , he is not the domain ’s tallest homo who ever live on . That honor belong toRobert Wadlow , who was measure by Guinness representatives as being 8 foot , 11 column inch tall in 1940 . ( Footage of Wadlow can be seen above . ) Wadlow ’s ascent was more telegraph : He was 5 feet , 4 in by age 5 . Zeng Jinlian was 8 groundwork , 1 inch upon her death in 1982 , making her thetallest womanto ever live .
That Rainer live life as both a little person and a giant is virtually unprecedented , affording him a perspective , both literal and figurative , that may never be repeat .
