Who discovered Mount Everest?
- 8 October 1985
- journal article
- Published by American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Eos
- Vol. 66 (41) , 697-700
- https://doi.org/10.1029/eo066i041p00697
Abstract
The discovery that Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world was made by the officers of the Survey of India. This organization measured a network of triangulation across India between 1800 and 1870. In order to reduce the measurements to geodetic coordinates, it was necessary to determine the size and shape of the earth. This was accomplished by measuring the length of an arc of the meridian under the direction of the Surveyor General, Sir George Everest. This measurement disagreed with the observations of the stars for latitude by 5 seconds of arc (530 ft or 162 m). In 1855, Pratt and Airy pointed out that the discrepancy was due to the gravitational effect of the Himalayas. Their work was the first indication that the material of the earth's crust under the mountains is lighter than that under plains. During the course of the survey the officers made observations on the snowy Himalayas. They were excluded from Nepal; observations had to be taken from more than 100 mi (160 km) away in jungles infested by malaria. Mount Everest was observed by three different officers between November 27, 1847, and January 17, 1850. The height of the mountain had to be determined by the (human) computers in the survey headquarters in Dehra Dun. The fact that it is the highest mountain in the Himalayas, and probably in the world, was announced by Surveyor General Andrew Waugh in 1856. It is not clear whether the chief computer who made the calculations was an Indian, Radanath Sikhdar, or an Englishman born in India of an Indian mother, John B. N. Hennesy. The local name for the mountain, if it had any, was unknown, so Waugh named it Mount Everest, in honor of the great scientist who was largely responsible for the accomplishments of the Survey of India.Keywords
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