Robert Wadlow was the tallest man ever recorded with his 272 cm (11.1 ft) height in modern times. He grew up abnormally due to his hypertrophy.
The twins then named Robert Wadlow as the tallest man "of whom there is irrefutable evidence". When last measured on 27 June 1940, the mild-mannered American stretched a staggering 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall.
Perhaps surprisingly, Robert entered the world no differently from most babies. He was born on 22 February 1918 to two regular-sized parents, weighing an unremarkable 3.85 kg (8.7 lb).
But he rapidly started to shoot up, reaching an incredible 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) by the age of five, by which time he was already wearing clothes intended for teenagers. Robert passed the 2.45 m (8 ft 0.5 in) mark by the age of 17, making him – unsurprisingly – the tallest teenager ever.
Sadly, it was Robert's legs that caused his premature death, aged just 22 years old. He died at 1:30 a.m. on 15 July 1940 in a hotel in Manistee, Michigan, as a result of a septic blister on his right ankle caused by a brace, which had been poorly fitted only a week earlier.