Great Explorers Codexery

Edmund Hillary

First confirmed climber to summit Everest, later a philanthropist and diplomat.

Last updated

Edmund Hillary

via Wikipedia: Edmund Hillary · see source

He was born in Auckland on 20 July 1919 and died of heart failure on 11 January 2008.[1][2]

Life and work

Hillary became interested in climbing after a 1935 school trip to Mount Ruapehu.[3] They spent about 15 minutes at the summit, where Hillary took a photo of Tenzing but declined to have his own picture taken.[4] In 1939, Hillary's first significant climb was to the top of Mount Ollivier.[5] During World War II, Hillary worked as a navigator for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and sustained an injury from an accident.[5]

In 1958, Hillary traveled overland to the South Pole as a participant in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.[6] After his Everest climb, he focused on aiding the Sherpa community via the Himalayan Trust, an organization he founded in 1960.[7]

What the cited sources add

A 2003 Guardian interview describes Hillary as still recognisable as the lanky beekeeper who climbed Everest.[8] The same source notes that Hillary and Hunt were knighted a week after the ascent, while Tenzing missed out because he was not a British citizen.[8] The Guardian also reports that Eric Shipton, Hillary's inspiration and mentor, was removed from the expedition in favour of Hunt.[8]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Famous New Zealanders", Christchurch City Libraries; "Edmund Hillary", New Zealand History (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McKenzie-Minifie, Martha, "State funeral for Sir Edmund Hillary", The New Zealand Herald, 11 January 2008; "Everest hero Edmund Hillary dies", BBC News, 11 January 2008; "Flag flies at half-mast as Scott Base remembers", The New Zealand Herald, 2008-01-11; "Clark statement on Hillary death". CNN.com. Retrieved 11 January 2008. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hillary 2003, p. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Joanna Wright (2003). "The Photographs", in Everest, Summit of Achievement, by the Royal Geographical Society. Simon & Schuster, New York. . Retrieved 11 Januar; "Obituary: Sir Edmund Hillary", BBC News, 11 January 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sir Edmund Hillary Biography and Interview", www.achievement.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Time 100 Persons of the Century", 6 June 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Edmund Hillary" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About us", himalayantrust.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. "We knocked the bastard off", The Guardian, 13 March 2003. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Edmund Hillary (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

MountaineeringTenzing NorgayMount EverestCho OyuTime (magazine)LancashireYorkshireBoxing

More in Great Explorers

Christopher ColumbusFerdinand MagellanMarco PoloVasco da GamaJames CookErnest ShackletonRoald AmundsenRobert Falcon ScottThe Lewis and Clark ExpeditionZheng HeIbn BattutaLeif Erikson

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →