Feodor Machnow

Fyodor Andreevich Makhnov (, also written as Feodor Machnow in contemporary sources) claimed to be the tallest person in the world, although his exact height and weight is unconfirmed.

Biography Fyodor Makhnov was born in 1878 at a khutor near the village of Kostyuki Vitebsky Uyezd, then part of the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) to a poor peasant family.

As a young man in his twenties he toured Europe to exhibit his great height. After having spent time in Berlin he visited London in 1905 where he joined the Hippodrome accompanied by his wife and young child. He then toured the United States in 1906 where he met President Roosevelt as well as actor and fellow giant George Auger. Throughout his tour his promoters exaggerated his height, and he was usually accredited with a considerably inflated stature as high as and billed as "The Russian Giant."

Makhnov died in 1912 due to pneumonia, and likely complications of acromegaly. He was the father of four children, none of whom reached a height greater than two meters.