Sir Edmund Percival Hillary Biography and Works.

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary born on July 20, 1919 was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and a philanthropist.

On May 29, 1953, at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer, Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. Hillary and Norgay were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.

Hillary was named as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by the Time’ magazine.

Hillary became interested in mountaineering at a young age, making his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Olivier.

He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during the World War II. He had been part of a reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 and an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyuin 1952 before the successful expedition in 1953 to Everest. As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, he reached the ‘South Pole’ overland in 1958.

After he had successfully climbed Everest, he devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts, many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of Nepal.

He died on January 11, 2008 of heart failure.

Trivia

Upon the outbreak of World War II, Hillary applied to join the air force, but had earlier withdrawn the application before it was considered because he was harassed by his religious conscience.