The Highest Mountain in the World

Abstract

The great Himalayan range stands like a wall separating the Indian subcontinent from the rest of Asia. The job of surveying these lofty mountains and measuring the height of its peaks fell to Everest s successor, Sir Andrew Scott Waugh. He found Kangchenjunga to be the highest peak measured till then, but saw three peaks in inaccessible Nepal which he guessed to be as high or higher. Waugh sent surveyors to take theodolite readings of these peaks from north Bihar. The data were carefully analysed by Radhanath Sickdhar, India s first scientist to work in the Western fashion, in Calcutta, and one of the peaks was found to be higher than Kangchenjunga. After getting these results checked at Dehradun, Waugh announced the discovery of the highest mountain in the world, which he named Mt. Everest. There are still controversies raging over the credit for the discovery and what the rightful name of the mountain should be. However, the importance of Radhanath Sickdhar lies in his being the first Indian to work and excel in Western Science.