Grafisches » The Height of Mathematics

The height of Mount Everest was not calculated by George Everest, but by a brilliant mathematician who has since been all but forgotten. Everest himself (who pronounced his name ‘ee-vrist’) had become the Surveyor-General of India in 1830, and by the next year was eagerly seeking a mathematician/topographer for his Great Trigonometric Survey of the area. A local college math teacher sent him the then-19-year-old Radhanath Sikdar. Sikdar was from Bengal and had become semi-notorious as a part of the Young Bengal movement of free-spirited noncomformists (expected to enter into an arranged marriage with a young girl, Sikdar had said no and walked away). However, he was also becoming known for his mathematical talents. Under Everest’s direction, Sikdar distinguished himself almost immediately with his level of technical skill and intellectual creativity. Sikdar would end up inventing a number of new forms of measurement, some of which far outlived him.

Sikdar ended up working for the Survey for more than two decades. Unfortunately, he was often treated unfairly. One edition of a surveyors’ manual left his name off his contributions. On another occasion, when Sikdar spoke up about the Survey taking advantage of some of its employees, he was fined 200 rupees for what the organisation saw as impudence. And due to how valuable his contributions were, when Sikdar attempted to change jobs, Everest denied the request on less-than-truthful grounds.

This was not even the final insult for Sikdar. When Everest retired, Sikdar continued his mapping and calculations under successor Andrew Waugh. Sikdar was able to show through his calculations that ‘Peak XV’ was the tallest in the world from sea-level, and Waugh eventually agreed with his calculations. Although the Survey had been labelling peaks according to what the local people called them, in this case Waugh decided to break with tradition and name the illustrious peak after…Everest. At least one scholarly society at the time took full note of Sikdar’s accomplishments, but in spite of his brilliant contributions, he has mostly been forgotten.