Adam Rainer is the only person in recorded history to be both a dwarf and a giant . No , before you say it : we are not describing someone of intermediate pinnacle .

Rainer was born in 1899 , to parents of average meridian . By the time he achieve his teenaged years , it was clear that he was shorter than most in his town of Graz , in then Austria - Hungary . Denied entry to the US Army during World War One due to his   own height   - then 4 foot 6 inches - Rainer was unusually short for his age , and classify as throw dwarfism , beingshorter than the 4 foot 10 shortcut . A few eld subsequently he tried to get into the USA again but still fell below the stature requirement at 4 foot 8 at the age of 20 .

aesculapian reports showed that Rainer had unusually large hands and feet for a man of his sizing , however , with his feet measuring atsize   US 10 ( EU 43 ) .

Then at 21 eld old - long after the point where most people have bar growing -   Adam began agrowth spurtthat would eventually get him classified as a giant . By thetime he was 32 , he had grown to the meridian of 7 ft 2 inch . Previously too short to inscribe the regular army , he now towered over just about everybody he met .

In the former 1930s , Rainer wasexamined by Dr A. Mandl and Dr F. Windholz , who diagnosed him withacromegaly , a rare upset   where the dead body grow too much growth endocrine . The disorder explained his abnormally great hands and feet - a vulgar symptom - as well as his overweening fatigue and enlarged facial features .

The aesculapian team determine the cause of his sudden growing spurt , atumor pressing against his pituitary secretory organ . The doctor operated on Rainer to polish off the neoplasm in the promise of preclude further growth . Though successfully absent , it was only enough to slow down Adam ’s growth . When he was assess the next twelvemonth his superlative was unchanged , but his spine had begun to wind , mean he was still develop .

As he grew , his wellness declined , with his curved spine eventually leaving him unable to stand on his own . His eyesight and earreach uprise worse , and he eventually pall aged 51 in a " place of the cured " , measuring 7 feet 8 inches marvellous ( 2.34 m ) , the tallest man in Austria .

There are currently no other   recognize instances of a person being classified as both a dwarf and a giant across their lifetime .