Explorers

Edmund Hillary

Born in 1919 in New Zealand, Edmund Hillary was a mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist who, together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first confirmed person to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. He subsequently reached the South Pole overland (1958) and the North Pole (1985), becoming the first person to stand at both poles and atop Everest. He devoted his later life to building schools and hospitals in Nepal through the Himalayan Trust. He received a state funeral upon his death in 2008.

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