JAMES W. VAUPEL is a demographer and is currently Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. He is also Professor of Demography and Epidemiology at the Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, and Senior Research Scientist at the Sanford Institute at Duke University in North Carolina. His research focuses on human biodemography, human longevity and centenarian research. He has authored or edited numerous books in the field of demography, particularly oldest old mortality, including Population Data at a Glance (1997), The Force of Mortality at Ages 80 to 120 (1998), and Validation of Exceptional Longevity (1999).