Tall people have always attracted attention. In the Middle Ages, now enlightened Europe burned giants at the stake along with witches: it was believed that too tall growth indicates the presence of devilish blood. By the 19th century, abnormal dimensions began to arouse medical interest. Scientists have discovered the secret of the giants - pituitary hypertrophy leads to an overabundance of growth hormone, which causes the body to continuously increase in size. Here are some of the most famous giants in world history, each of whom could very well become basketball legends.
Julius Koch
2 meters 46 centimeters
Julius Koch, christened by the enthusiastic press Le Geant Constantin, was one of the 15 tallest men known to science. The unfortunate one suffered from congenital infantile gigantism: the development of the disease was one of the factors that provoked gangrene of both legs of the giant. The amputation of the limbs extended the poor man's life by only a few weeks. On March 30, 1902, Koch died in the Belgian town of Mons. There, in the Museum of Natural History, his skeleton is still on display.
Valno Mullurinne
Promotional video:
2 meters 51.4 centimeters
Valno was born on February 27, 1909 in Helsinki and showed no signs of abnormal development until puberty. Acromegaly in a few months turned an ordinary schoolboy into the tallest person in Finland.
Jack Carroll
2 meters 63.5 centimeters
Friends nicknamed Jack "The Red Giant": with a height of 263 centimeters, this farmer from Iowa weighed under two centners and raised a one-year-old calf with his hands on a bet. Until the end of his life, Carroll suffered from a severe curvature of the spine, which turned the daily farming routine into an extremely painful ordeal.
John William Rogan
2 meters 64 centimeters
At thirteen, John Rogan was two heads taller than any adult. By the time he came of age, the boy reached two and a half meters, and then gained another fifteen centimeters, becoming at that time the tallest man in the world. Unfortunately, explosive growth led to the development of ankylosis, which deprived the giant of the ability to move independently.
Robert Wadlow
2 meters 72 centimeters
The pituitary hypertrophy caused abnormally high levels of human growth hormone in Robert's body. The "giant from Illinois" was three meters tall, and so that the wind would not blow off the road, it gained as much as 220 kg of weight. The hormone surplus was so great that Robert's body continued to grow even after the recorded death of his mind.