The idea that old age was a topic worthy of serious study was promoted by Frenchman Michel Chevreul, whose life’s work also included pioneering analysis of contrasting colours and of cholesterol. But it was Peter Chalmers Mitchell who brought the word gerontology into English. Mitchell was a zoologist and writer with a penchant for languages. At the dawn of the 20th century he was also a prolific translator, and the word gerontology appeared in his 1903 translation of Metchnikoff’s The Nature of Man. Further detail on the subject would follow in his translation The Prolongation of Life. However, Mitchell’s true calling was the field of zoology. He headed the London Zoo for 32 years and was the driving force behind the 1931 opening of Whipsnade Zoo, Britain’s largest open air animal park.
Metchnikoff, though, fixed his attention on biology, and his work on microbes and the immune system would win him the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1908. One of his key studies examined why Bulgarians from the steppes region lived so long. The answer was their regular consumption of sour milk which he himself drank and which later inspired probiotics, the “friendly” bacteria which bring health benefits to their hosts. For the Bulgars these benefits included living to be over 100, making a study of old age a logical step.
The word gerontology originates from the Greek geron (old man) and logia (study). While the work of Metchnikoff and Chevreul would be widely acclaimed, the study of gerontology was not formally adopted until the latter half of the 20th century, with the first Masters program established in the United States in 1967 and the first PhD program in 1989. Today it is more topical than ever, with issues such as demographics, the process of ageing and extension of life prompting not only academic thinking but also detailed government planning for the care of an ever-ageing population.
The pioneers of gerontology are long gone, of course, but certainly not forgotten. And the life of Michel Cheveul was a study not only in achievement but also in longevity. Born during the reign of King Louis XVI, three years before the French Revolution, Chevreul’s life extended 102 years to encompass the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower. The first champion of gerontology would himself become a suitable subject for study.
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