RIP - Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, Age 88 :: Oblate Spheroid

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RIP - Sir Edmund Percival Hillary -- July 20, 1919 - January 10, 2008

Sir Edmund Hillary was credited with being the first person to climb to the top
of the tallest mountain on Earth. Many thought that this point was the place on
Earth closest to the heavens but as we found out a little less than one year
ago, that point is on the top of a volcano named Mount Chimborazo in
Ecuador.

Sir Edmund Hillary (left), a beekeeper
from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay (right), a Sherpa from a mountain village
in Nepal, won the race to summit Everest in 1953. The climbers made a pact to
not reveal who reached the summit first. Hillary wrote in a press statement that
they reached the summit "almost together." Years later, Norgay revealed that
Hillary reached the top first, by a mere six feet -- the length of the rope that
held the two together. Image Credit: Hulton-Deutsch
Collection/CORBIS

This point of definition will never take away
the fact that Hillary lived his life in a very special and accomplished way. He
not only is credited with being the first person to scale Mount Everest, in 1985
he accompanied United States astronaut Neil Armstrong in a small twin-engine
airplane outfitted with skis over the Artic Ocean and landed on the North Pole.
This made Hillary the first person to stand at both poles and on the summit of
Mount Everest!

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary rest in peace, and may your
spirit of adventure and discovery touch each and everyone of us for at least one
moment in our lifetime here on Earth.

Mount Everest from afar. Image Credit:
Bungatech

This excerpted from BBC News -

Sir Edmund Hillary dies aged
88
BBC News - Last
Updated: Thursday, 10 January 2008, 23:34 GMT

New Zealand Prime
Minister Helen Clark described the explorer as a heroic figure and said all New
Zealanders would deeply mourn his passing.

Sir Edmund's health had
reportedly been in decline since April, when he suffered a fall while visiting
Nepal.

He was the first man to climb the 8,850m (29,035ft) peak with
Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953.

Since his ascent, Sir Edmund has
devoted his life to helping the Sherpas of Nepal's Khumbu region. He was made an
honorary Nepalese citizen in 2003.

'Quintessential
Kiwi'

Announcing Sir Edmund's death on Friday, New Zealand's prime
minister described him as a "heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest
but lived a life of determination, humility and generosity".

"The
legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New
Zealander ever to have lived," Ms Clark said.

"But most of all he was a
quintessential Kiwi."

"He was ours - from his craggy appearance to
laconic style to his directness and honesty. All New Zealanders will deeply
mourn his passing."

Born 19 July 1919, in Auckland, New Zealand, Sir
Edmund served as a pilot during World War II and earned renown as an ice
climber.

In the 1980s he also served as New Zealand's ambassador to
India.
Reference
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