The Framingham Heart Study began in 1948 with 5,209 healthy adult subjects aged between the ages

of 30 and 60 from Framingham, Massachusetts. Each had a full medical check every two to four years which included: measuring different lifestyle factors (diet, exercise, smoking etc.), family history, blood tests and echocardiograms of their hearts. The researchers wanted to know how people who had heart disease were different from people who didnt and were hoping to find out what factors cause heart disease. In 1971, they started with the original groups 5124 grown-up children and their spouses. The data is now used for studying the patterns of other diseases as well, such as diabetes and Alzheimers. The Terman Study of the Gifted, previously known as the Genetic Studies of Genius, is the oldest and longest-running longitudinal study in the world. Lewis Terman began the study in 1921, at Stanford University, to observe the development and personalities of gifted children in their lives. He wanted to prove to people that gifted children were not sickly and socially inept. He looked at the childrens family, health problems, personality, special abilities, interests and racial and ethnic heritage. Terman's initial findings were that, other than intelligence and a tendency to be myopic (shortsighted), gifted children were not significantly different from their less-gifted peers.