| Authorised form of name | Everest; Sir; George (1790 - 1866); surveyor and military engineer |
| Dates | 1790 - 1866 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Gwernvale, Brecknockshire, Wales |
| Date of birth | 04 July 1790 |
| Place of death | 10 Westbourne Street, Hyde Park Gardens, London |
| Date of death | 01 December 1866 |
| Occupation | Surveyor |
| Activity | Career:
Military engineer and geodesist, he went to India in 1823 to take on a mammoth task - to complete the Great Trigonometrical Survey of the sub-continent which William Lambton had begun in 1806. The survey would take up 25 years of his life and would map a huge area -almost 2,400 km from Cape Comorin in the south to the Himalayas in the north. It is said the Everest was relentless in his pursuit of accuracy and that he made countless adaptions to the surveying equipment, the methods and the calculations involved. Seven years after he wasa appointed superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, George Everest was also made Surveyor General in India. It is known that Everest travelled to the foothills of the Himalayas as part of his work but there is no firm evidence that he actually saw the summit of the mountain which bears his name. The world's highest mountain was dubbed Peak XV but Everest's successor as Surveyor General in India, Andrew Waugh, wanted a lasting tribute to his predecessor who had done so much ground breaking work on the survey. 'Here is a mountain most probably the highest in the world without any local name that I can discover" wrote Waugh at the time, He went on to suggest a name, writing that "to perpetuate the memory of that illustrious master of geogrphical researech" the mountain should be called Everest. In 1865, Peak XV was officially named Mount Everest in his honour. In fact, the mountain was known as Chomoloungma in the Tibetan language and Sagamartha in Nepal
Honours:
CB 1861; Kt 1861 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 08/03/1827 |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1867-1868 vol 16 pp xi-xiv
References:
James R Smith, 'Sir George Everest, FRS (1790-1866)' in NR 1992 vol 46 pp 89-102, plate
Sir Geoffrey Taylor, 'George Boole, FRS, 1815-1864' in NR 1956-57 vol 12 pp 44-52
R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 1. 1731-1847' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 307-332 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/27447861 |
| Royal Society code | NA1188 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| IM/Maull/001333 | Everest, Sir George | nd |
| MM/14/69 | 'Note by General Sabine referring to the suggestions contained in Dr Robinson's and Sir George Everest's letters' | 23 June 1864 |
| EC/1826/23 | Everest, Sir George: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| MC/6/130 | Letter from Geo [George] Everest, 10 Westbourne Street, Hyde Park, to the Secretary of the Royal Society | 8 April 1861 |
| MC/6 | Volume 6 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1859-1863 |
| MC/7/96 | Letter from Geo [George] Everest, 10 Westbourne Street, to General [Edward] Sabine, [President of the Royal Society] | 15 June 1864 |
| MC/7 | Volume 7 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1864-1866 |
| HS/7/135 | Letter, from George Everest to Sir John Herschel, dated at Bury St., St James's | 14 October 1844 |