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Biography · Noble People · 23 / 100

Edmund Hillary

1919–2008 · Mountaineer and philanthropist

Portrait of Edmund Hillary
Photographer unidentified. Retouched by TimofKingsland. · Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Bio

New Zealand mountaineer who, with Tenzing Norgay, made the first confirmed ascent of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953. He later reached the South Pole overland and climbed extensively in the Himalaya. Through the Himalayan Trust he spent decades funding schools, hospitals and airstrips in Nepal's Solukhumbu region and campaigned on the environmental costs of expedition tourism.