science

Sultan Kösen

Sultan Kösen is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sultan Kösen rather than just read about it. In short: Sultan Kösen (born 10 December 1982) is a Turkish farmer who holds the Guinness World Record for tallest living person at 251 cm (8 ft 2.82 in). Kösen's growth resulted from the conditions gigantism and acromegaly, caused by a tumour affecting his pituitary gland.

Key takeaways

Sultan Kösen belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sultan Kösen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sultan Kösen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sultan Kösen (born 10 December 1982) is a Turkish farmer who holds the Guinness World Record for tallest living person at 251 cm (8 ft 2.82 in). Kösen's growth resulted from the conditions gigantism and acromegaly, caused by a tumour affecting his pituitary gland. Due to his condition, he uses crutches to walk.

Biography Kösen, a Turkish man of ethnic Kurdish descent, was born in the village of Alibey in Mardin Province of Turkey. Kösen was unable to complete his education because of his height; he instead worked part-time as a farmer. He describes the advantages of being tall as being able to see a great distance and being able to help his family with domestic tasks such as changing light bulbs and hanging curtains. He lists disadvantages as not being able to find clothes for his legs measuring 126 cm (49.61 in) and for his arms with a sleeve length measuring 97 cm (38.19 in) or shoes that fit, as well as finding it difficult to fit into an average-sized car. His left foot measures 36.5 cm (14.4 in) and his right foot measures 35.5 cm (14.0 in), whereas his hands are the longest measured in a living person at 28.5 cm (11.2 in). From 2002 to 2003, Kösen briefly played for Turkish basketball club Galatasaray S.K. Starting in 2010, Kösen received Gamma Knife treatment for his pituitary tumour at the University of Virginia Medical School and was provided with medication to control his excessive levels of growth hormone. It was confirmed in March 2012 that the treatment was effective in halting Kösen's growth. In October 2013, Kösen married Syrian-born Merve Dibo. In an interview, he said that his biggest problem with his wife was communication, as he speaks Turkish but his wife spoke only Arabic. The pair divorced in 2021 citing the language barrier as one of the key problems. On 13 November 2014, as part of Guinness World Records Day, Kösen met, for the first time, the world's shortest man ever recorded, Chandra Bahadur Dangi (54.6 cm (1 ft 9+1⁄2 in), at an event in London. The difference between their heights was 196.4 cm (6 ft 5.32 in). In 2014, Kösen joined the Magic Circus of Samoa and participated in various shows around the world. In 2022, he celebrated his 40th birthday by visiting the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum in Orlando, Florida, United States, and posing next to a life-sized statue of Robert Wadlow, the tallest man ever recorded, at 272 cm (8 ft 11.1 in).

Records On 25 August 2009, Kösen's standing height was recorded at 246.4 cm (8 ft 1 in) in his home country by Guinness World Records, overtaking former world record holder Bao Xishun, who stands 236.1 cm (7 ft 8+15⁄16 in) tall. Kösen also holds the current Guinness record for the largest hands, at 27.5 cm (10+7⁄8 in), and the second-largest feet: 36.5 cm (14+3⁄8 in) (left foot) and 35.5 cm (14 in) (right foot). On 25 August 2010, according to the University of Virginia, a height of up to 254.3 cm (8 ft 4+1⁄8 in) had been confirmed by doctors, who stated that this might be Kösen's actual height, artificially lowered by scoliosis and bad posture. On 9 February 2011, Kösen was remeasured by Guinness World Records at 251 cm (8 ft 2+7⁄8 in). They also remeasured his hands at 28 cm (11 in), which broke his previous record.

References

See also List of tallest people Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in recorded history Rumeysa Gelgi, the tallest woman alive (also from Turkey) Zeng Jinlian, the tallest woman in recorded history

External links

Dünyanın en uzun insanı bir Türk – NTV The Tallest Man in the world

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sultan Kösen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sultan Kösen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sultan Kösen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sultan Kösen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sultan Kösen

In research: Sultan Kösen appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sultan Kösen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sultan Kösen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1982 births, 21st-century Kurdish people, 21st-century Turkish people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sultan Kösen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sultan Kösen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sultan Kösen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sultan Kösen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sultan Kösen in simple terms?

Why does Sultan Kösen matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sultan Kösen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sultan Kösen.