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alMilitaryAcademyatWoolwich as agen-tleman cadet and very quickly proved hisability. In particular, his mathematics wasof such a high standard that he obtaineda distinction. Courses were short, and by1806 a certificate had been awarded andGeorge was on his way to India with theEast India Company. Such was his abilitythat he was qualified for a commission atan age below that at which it was legalto be so appointed.Some years were spent in the Bengal Ar-tillery before he had a survey role. He ar-rived in the East just a few years prior tothe overrunning of Java by the French –

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an act that disturbed the East India Com-pany because of its nearness to their in-terests. To redress this, a large force ofmostly Madras troops captured Batavia inAugust 1811. In 1815 Everest completedcoastal survey operations instigated afterthe capture of Batavia. Among his instru-mentation was a double armed peram-bulator, a large ship’s compass, a theodo-lite and a micrometrical telescope.In 1817 he was laying out a 400mile longtelegraph line from Calcutta to Benares.Work took some six months because thecombination of thick forest and the lim-ited power of their telescopes reducedsights to atmost 13miles and oftenmuchless. Even then observer and target need-ed raising some 70 to 100 ft above theground to get lines of sight.

The Great TrigonometricalSurvey

Everest had obviously made a good im-pression on these early assignments sinceLambton – the Superintendent of theGreat Trigonometrical Survey – requestedthat he be appointed as his chief assis-tant. He left Benares in October 1818 andtook 10 weeks to reach Hyderabad – a

Everest – the Man and theMountainThe name Everest is well known to surveyors and the general public as referring to amountain but what of the man, whose name it was? What do we know about himand his work? Until 1999 and reference [3] all that could be found were various tech-nical papers in a wide range of sources, but almost all of them had been taken intoaccount by Markham [1] and Phillimore [2]. Both of these but the latter in particular,is so extensive and detailed on every aspect of the Survey, that there is little of tech-nical importance not recorded there. However when it comes to his personal life it isquite different. Here it is pertinent to quote that his niece wrote «that circumstancesinto which I cannot now enter, led to the destruction of nearly all written memorialsof his life…» [4]. This was almost 40 years after his death so what caused such de-struction? We still do not know.

Der Name Everest ist Vermessungsfachleuten und der Öffentlichkeit als Berg bekannt.Weniger bekannt ist der Mensch, der dem Berg den Namen gab. Was wissen wir überihn und seine Arbeit? Bis 1999 existierten nur verschiedene technische Berichte vonMarkham [1] und Phillimore [2]. Detailliert werden die Vermessungsarbeiten be-schrieben. Zur Person Everest und seinem Leben ist jedoch wenig enthalten. SeineNichte schrieb: «Umstände, auf die ich nicht eintreten kann, führten zur Zerstörungfast aller schriftlichen Zeugnisse seines Lebens…» [4]. Das war fast 40 Jahre nach sei-nem Tod. Was aber verursachte diese Zerstörung? Wir wissen es noch nicht. Ein Buchdes Autors [3] ging diesen Fragen nach und beleuchtet das Leben und Werk von Eve-rest. Der Artikel ist eine Zusammenfassung.

Le Mont Everest est connu, comme montagne, des spécialistes de la mensuration etdu public. Moins connu est l’homme qui a donné son nom à la montagne. Que sa-vons-nous de lui et de son travail? Jusqu’en 1999, il n’existait que quelques rapportstechniques de Markham [1] et Phillimore [2]. Dans leurs énoncés ses travaux de men-suration sont décrits. Cependant, quant à la personne Everest et à sa vie on en saittrès peu. Sa nièce écrivait: «des circonstances sur lesquelles je ne peux pas entrer enmatière ont conduit à la destruction de presque tous les témoins écrits de sa vie…»[4]. Cela était il y a presque 40 ans après sa mort. Mais qu’est ce qui a provoqué cet-te destruction? Nous le savons toujours pas. Un livre de l’auteur [3] traite de ces ques-tions et éclaire la vie et l’œuvre d’Everest. L’article est un résumé.

J.R. Smith

George Everest was born on 4 July 1790.His father Tristram Everest was a solicitorin Greenwich as had been his father be-fore him, but before that theywere butch-ers. A man of some wealth and property,Tristram was born in 1747 and died in1825. The place of birth of George is un-known although he was certainly chris-tened in Greenwich. It could have beenthat he was born at Gwernvale in SouthWales where his father had an estate.By the age of 14 George was at the Roy-

Fig. 1: Sir George Everest.

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Histoire de la culture et de la technique

distance of 750 miles. As they marchedso he voluntarily made a route survey ashe went.Lambton had initiated and carriedthrough for some 18 years, the idea of asystematic triangulation throughout thecountry. A particular part of this was tobe a meridian arc measure through thecentre of India from Cape Cormorin tothe Himalayas some 22 degrees in extentmore or less up the 78th meridian. Thiswould be a length far in excess of any pre-vious arcmeasure except for that of Struvewhich was concurrently underobserva-tion. By the time Everest joined himLambton was around 65 years old – al-though his date of birth is uncertain. Heobviously realised that a youngermanwasneeded to be trained up and eventuallytake over. He was not to be disappointedin the manner in which George Everesttook on this role.Everest was set to work on a chain of tri-angles running north-south between therivers Kistna and Godavari to the east ofHyderabad. Just the sort of testinggroundto either kill the new recruit or make himgo on to extremes. It very nearly did thefirst – literally – but he survived to con-tinue. It was exceedingly inhospitablecountry with rough hill terrain coveredwith dense jungle and containing all theingredients of a multitude of fevers.

Before long malaria overtook not onlyEverest but 150 of his followers, 15 ofwho never made it back to Hyderabad.Not to be defeated, Everest returned tofinish the chain the following year. Need-less to say, fever struck once again andthis time hewas forced to go on sick leaveand in October 1820 he embarked forCape Colony. Little is known of his activ-ities during the year he was away, otherthan that he investigated the work of La-Caille who in 1752 had surveyed an arcof meridian near Cape Town coveringabout a degree. When the results of this

were compared with arc measures else-where in the world there appeared to besome unexplained discrepancy.When a copy of Lacaille’s journal reachedhim from France Everest set about deter-miningwhere the stations used on the archad been situated and, in particular, stud-ied the terminal stations. These were un-fortunatelyboth so situatedas tobeproneto deflection of the vertical. Everest as-sessed the possible effects to be nearlynine seconds. This was an amount which,if applied, would put Lacaille’s results inagreement with other reliable arcs andgive a flattening of around 1/300. Duringthe years 1837–1847 ThomasMaclear re-observed and extended Lacaille’s arc. Indoing so, he proved Everest findings to becorrect.Everest was back in India at the end of1821 and this time went west of Hyder-abad. He was carrying a chain from thecentral meridian arc towards Poona andBombay – the Bombay Longitudinal Se-ries. The ultimate goal of this chain wasthe connection of the observatories atMadras and Bombay. The country wasopen, no jungle, fever, roaring rivers orother obstacles and the people wereamong the kindest in India. Difficultiesthere were, not least of which was theproblems created by haze and refraction.There was one instance where towers ofover 20 ft were built at each end of a line

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Fig. 2: Measurement of the Calcutta baseline with the Colby bar equipment.

Fig. 3: The Colby bar apparatus.

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to overcome an intervening range of hills.Then, when a clear day presented itself,not only the distant tower but the wholerange on which it stood was clearly visi-ble above the obstructive range.It was on this chain that Everest had toimprovise beacon lamps in the form of anearthen vessel filled with oil-soaked cot-ton seeds as fuel. They worked well overlong distances. This resulted in his adop-tion of night observations – that could beachieved in the seasons of better weath-er – instead of entirely daytime observa-tion, which were limited to the worst sea-sons of the year.Everest was halfway in this operationwhen news reached him that ColLambton had died on 20 January 1823.All work on the chain ceased and Everestreturned to Hyderabad to take charge ofthe Great Trigonometrical Survey, al-though it was 7 March before he was of-ficially appointed as Superintendent.Everest resolved to continue whereLambton had finished but fever overtookhim yet again in August 1823. Among thecureswas one involving the takingofmer-cury pills and the recommendation to goriding regularly. It was after one such ridein a heavy storm that even more violent

pains occurred with the fever and for sixmonths he was wracked with achingbones and convulsions and had consider-able discomfort in sleeping.But the surveyors of that century weremade of stern stuff. As soon as he couldbear the irregular movements of hispalanquin it was back to the meridianchain. His ambition was to see the com-pletion of the Great Arc and fever or painwas not going to stop him. To observewith the zenith sector he had to be liftedin and out of his seat and for the largetheodolite his arm had to be supported inorder to manipulate the vertical circle.Much of the time he could not stand un-aided.It was the period when he was on theTakarkhera base that he took 372 star ob-servations for azimuth and zenith dis-tance. His approach was that he wouldtolerate no inferiority in execution and ifthere was any reason to suspect a defector imprecision of any sort that could notbe accounted for the whole set was re-jected and an entirely new set of obser-vations taken. His instructions for observ-ing were given in the minutest detail andno deviation from them was allowed.Everest struggled on but in September1824 he was writing of the previous fourmonths of illness and how he had an ab-scess on his hip, another on his neck, fromboth ofwhich fragments of decayed bonehad been repeatedly extracted, and thathe had various other unpleasant opera-tions performed on him.Hemeasured abaseline at Sironj and com-pleted the necessary astronomical obser-vations at Kalianpur in early 1825 before

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finally succumbing. This baseline wasmeasured on coffers and Everest insistedon personally seeing to every detail, in-cluding the driving in of aligning stakes.The length of this base was 38 413 ft andthat at Takarkhera about 37 900 ft, bothmeasured by steel chain.His sick leave was spent in England andlasted for almost five years. But he wasnot idle. He was determined that whenhe returned to India he would have thebest available equipment. A large part ofhis leave was spent trying out the latestinstruments in England, Ireland and Eu-rope. Then he designed and supervisedthe building of new pieces especially forIndia. In particular he felt that the use ofchains was not the most accurate meansfor measuring base lines. At the time ColColby was using in Ireland a techniquethat he had designed himself and Everestmade a special journey to see it in oper-ation.He would have scrutinised it in the mi-nutest detail, and he determined to takea set back with him. The equipment con-sisted of bars so arranged as to compen-sate for some of the sources of error thatoccur in the highest orders of measure-ment. In addition he arranged the con-struction of a new theodolite with 36 indiameter circle and other instruments.

Fig. 4: The end of a Colby bar show-ing the two bars of different metaljoined together in the arrangementto reduce the effect of temperature.

Fig. 6: 24 inch diameter theodoliteused in India.

Fig. 5: Everest pattern theodolite de-signed by for use on revenue surveys.

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Surveyor General of India

Even this did not fill all his time for hecompiled a large volume on the results ofthe measurement of a six degree sectionof the arc. It was in this that he derivedhis figure of the earth as 20 922 932 ftfor the semi-major axis and l/300.80 forthe flattening. By June 1830 he departedagain for India where he was to be notonly Superintendent of the Great Survey,as before, but in addition was appointedSurveyor General of India. It was a dualrole that was really far too much for oneindividual, but Everest’s single-minded-ness carried him through another 13years. A year after arriving back in Indiahe had his first opportunity to use theCol-by bar system on a baseline at Calcuttathatwas some 34000 ft long. Everestwasso impressed by the results that no morebases in India were measured by chain.He then recommenced work on themeridional series, but had severe staffingproblems. There was literally no-one towhom he could entrust the work, so acomprehensive training programme wasrequired. This he did himself in additionto transacting the extensive business of

Surveyor General. It took a man of rarequality to survive and come out on top.When it came to carrying the triangula-tion across the Ganges plain the poor vis-ibility in the low lying areas necessitatedthe construction of 14 huge masonrytowers up to 60 ft high to raise the lineof sight sufficiently. For observing, the in-strument had to be winched up – a pro-cedurewhichonanoccasion in Lambton’stimehad resulted in a snapped rope, dam-age to the theodolite and many weeksspent in repair in the middle of nowherewith little or nothing to work with noreven any staff with experience.For targets we again find Everest in an in-novativemood.Whereas Lambton had al-ways observed main lines during the veryinhospitable wet season so as to get gooddaytime visibility, Everest devised a formof blue light that could be readily seen atnight in the dry season. These supple-mented the reverberating argand lampsand the use of heliostats.In 1832 Everest was in a position to re-commence observations on the Great Arcafter an interval of seven years. The field-work was to last a further nine years be-fore being completed with the measure-ment of the Bedar base in 1841. Towardsthe end of 1832 Everest moved his officefrom Calcutta into the hill region aroundMussourie – some 800 miles away butnearer the Great Arc area and in a better

climatic zone. He purchased an estatecalled the Park House near the peak ofHathipaon, at the terminal of the arc butGovernment regulations would not per-mit him to use it for his office. Hence themove for official business a few milessouth to Dehra Dun. The estate was ofconsiderable extent, well wooded, and atover 6000 ft elevation.The area required a base line and a site inthe Doon was decided upon. It was mea-sured in 1834-5 as 39 183.783 ft. Prior tomeasurement50comparisonsweremadebetween the standard bar and the com-pensating bars, then a further 61 com-parisonsafter the firstmeasureof thebaseand 66 after the returnmeasure. The areahad a plentiful supply of tigers and verylong grass so transport here was by ele-phant.When observing at the stations in theJumna-Ganges doab to connect theDehraDunbase to that at Seronj hewrote:«It was unquestionably the most harass-ing duty I had to perform, and I had tobear nearly the whole burden of the ar-duous task myself, for there was at thattime no person at my disposal to whomI could depute any portion of the work,except under my own immediate super-vision and control. Day and night at allhours from the 13th December… till 4thMay – I was perpetually in a state of ex-citement and anxiety.»

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Fig. 7: The 36 inch diameter theodo-lite now at the Headquarters of theSurvey of India in Dehra Dun.

Fig. 8: Painting of Everest’s Park Estate House as seen from the nearby moun-tain of Hathipaon.

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For most of 1835 and particularly for theperiod from May to October he was con-fined to bed and often on the verge ofdeath. No wonder when he was bled tofainting by 1000 leeches, suffered 30 or40 cupping glasses and numerous dosesof nauseating medicine. A «cuppingglass» was a cup-shaped glass, heatedand applied to the skin to draw moreblood to that area. In all he had four at-tacks during the year, each more severethan the previous.These and further alarming attacks weredisturbing to the Directors of the East In-dia Company so much so that in Sep-tember 1837 they appointed ThomasJervis as Provisional Surveyor General tosucceed «upon the death or resignationof Lt Col Everest». Now this was eithermisinterpreted by Jervis or went to hishead somewhat for it soon caused afurore. Not only did Everest not approveof the standardofworkproducedby Jervisbut he had no qualifications that were ap-propriate. Whilst he could not easily dis-approve because of the condition placedon the appointment, what really stirredhim to fire was when Jervis sent him acopy of a paper he had presented in 1838to the British Association. It resulted in aseries of heated letters to theDuke of Sus-sex, as President of The Royal Society, andthe publication of them all by Everest in1839. In the end Jervis retired from Indiabefore Everest.1841 saw completion of the field workon the Great Arc with a base at Bedar of41578.536ft and astronomical observa-tions at Kalianpur – these were the lastfield observations by Everest. He had seen

much of India covered with triangulationbut more important to him was comple-tion, against all odds, of the measure ofa meridian arc of over 20º. A further twoyears were required to write up all the re-ports, complete the computations, andendeavour to safeguard the future of theSurvey of India after his departure.

Back to England

He left his Park Estate in September 1843and sailed to retirement in England.Among the comments on his achieve-ments we read an expression from the Di-rectors of the East India Company of theirhigh regard for his scientific achievementsand of the ability and zeal he displayed.The able manner in which he conductedthe important scientific work cannot failto causehis name tobe conspicuously andintimately associated with the progress ofscientific enquiry.Markhamwrote that hecompleted one of the most stupendousworks in the whole history of science. Noscientific man ever had a grander monu-ment tohismemory than theGreatMerid-ional Arc of India.He married in 1846 and had six children.The last of these died in 1935 and neitherof the two grandsons survived to marry.He played an active roll in the Royal Soci-ety, The Royal Geographical Society, Roy-al Astronomical Society and the Royal In-stitution. In 1861 he was awarded a CBand knighted.What of the mountain? Sir George reallyplayed no part in that. He never saw themountain, took no measurements to it,and did not provide it with a name. Thisall took place under his successor, AndrewWaugh. It was not until 1849–50 that ob-servations were taken to numerous peaksin the Himalayas where the highest peaklies. By 1852 computations were indicat-ing a peak of considerable elevation andevery effortwasmade to find a local namefor it but to no avail – although contro-versy was to continue for 100 years.Waugh decided to name it Mount Ever-est «after my illustrious predecessor».This, together with a height value of29 002 ft, was announced in 1856 byMa-

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jor Thuillier to the Asiatic Society of Ben-gal.Whilst Sir George was not very enthusi-astic over this recognition he did not vio-lently object. It was a fitting end to hislong career. He died in London on 1 De-cember 1866 and is buried in Hove.

References:

1 Markham C.R. 1871. Memoir of the Surveyof India.

2 Phillimore R.H. 1950-8. Historical Records ofthe Survey of India. 4 volumes.

3 Smith J.R. 1999. Everest. The Man and theMountain. Whittles Publishing. ISBN 1-870325-72-9.

4 Boole M.E. 1905. The naming of MountEverest. East and West. Bombay. March.

Jim R. SmithFIG International Institution for the Histo-ry of Surveying and Measurement24 Woodbury AvenuePetersfildHants GU32 2EEEnglandjim@smith1780.freeserve.co.uk

Fig. 9: Bust of Sir George Everest un-veiled in Dehra Dun at the bicente-nary celebrations.

Fig. 10: Everest’s Coat of Arms. Apainting presented to the SurveyorGeneral of India in 1990 at bicente-nary celebrations of the death of SirGeorge Everest.