The 72 year-old Grant Study

In 1937 the Grant Study began to track with meticulous detail the lives of sophmore men at Harvard (including a future U.S. president). Since 1937 the study has limped along through wars, dramatic cultural changes, and financial woes that beset the study itself. Through all of the changes and challenges of the past 70 years, the study has persisted, producing a fascinating look at the human life. (Even reading the methodology of the study one gets the feeling that this study emerged during an entirely different era.)

Here is a video that includes comments from the one tracking most closely these lives, Dr. George Vaillant:


For more on the study read Joshua Wolf Shenk's article.