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Radhanath Sirkar and Mount Everest.
“Sir, I have discovered the highest mountain in the world,” exclaimed Radhanath Sikdar as he rushed into the office of Sir Andrew Waugh, the Surveyor General of India.
Until then, Kangchenjunga had held the top spot. But once the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, under the leadership of Sir George Everest was completed, the mountain known as Peak XV appeared higher, at around 29,000 feet (8,839 meters). Later measurements edged the total up a bit to 29,028 feet (8,848 meters).
In 1832, under the leadership of Everest, the longitudinal series of the “triangle” survey was completed from Seronj (in Madhya Pradesh) to Calcutta (West Bengal).
While still working on mapping Calcutta, Bengal, Everest had begun his search for a mathematician, and soon enough, John Tytler, a professor of Mathematics at the Hindu (now Presidency) College Calcutta, recommended 19year old Radhanath’s name.
Radhanath, a student of the college since 1824, was one of the first two Indians to read Newton’s Principia (the other being Rajnarayan Basak) and by 1832, he had studied Euclid’s Elements, Jephson’s Fluxion and Analytical Geometry and Astronomy by Windhouse.
Taking inspiration from these prestigious papers, he devised a new method to draw a common tangent to two circles, even when he was just a teenager.
The editor of Gleanings in Science, which published his research (Vol III, 1831) wrote, “A good deal having appeared in the public prints lately, respecting the Hindoo College, it may not be uninteresting to publish the accompanying solution of a geometrical problem by one of the pupils there, Radhanath Sikdar. The solution is altogether his own discovery, and I have not altered a word in his composition.”
There was little doubt about Radhanath’s proficiency in his subject, and he secured the job at the GTS on 19 December 1831.
Sir George’s successor thought it appropriate to name the mountain after the man who had initiated the survey in the first place. Everest’s name would never be forgotten, even though Chomolungma, which, according to Tenzing Norgay, means “The Mountain So High No Bird Can Fly Over It”.
The Alpine Club, started in London in 1857, soon became the incubator for expeditions into the greater ranges. One of its early explorers, Charles Bruce, was the first to propose climbing Everest. World War I put a stop to any efforts, but once the war ended, interest began anew.
In 1847, Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India, found a peak in the eastern end of the Himalayas which was higher than Kangchenjunga – considered the highest peak in the world at that time.
Indian mathematician and surveyor Radhanath Sikdar was probably the first person to identify that Mount Everest (then known as peak XV) was the world’s highest peak as he was the first person to calculate the height of the mountain in 1852. However it was officially announced only in March 1856.
Andrew Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor Sir George Everest, though Everest himself opposed the idea. Waugh was persistent because the mountain had several names at different locations. It was known as Chomolungma in Tibet, Chomolangma among the Sherpas of Nepal, and Qomolangma in China.
The British Geological Survey identified it as Mount Everest in 1860. After 100 years, it was rechristened as Sagarmatha by the Government of Nepal. In 1856, Andrew Waugh announced that Everest was 29,002 feet (8,840 m) high. The most accepted elevation of 8,848 m (29,029 ft) was first determined by Survey of India in 1955. It was subsequently reaffirmed by a 1975 Chinese measurement.
Even as seven other Bengali ‘computers’ worked alongside him, Radhanath soon showed his superior skills in mathematics and became Everest’s favourite colleague. Radhanath’s job was to carry geodetic surveys – the study of the earth’s geometric shape orientation in space and gravitational field. He did not just use the established methods, but invented his own to accurately measure these factors.
Everest, as well as Radhanath’s other colleagues, were no doubt, impressed by the skills he brought to the table.
In a letter to Radhanath’s father, Tituram, Everest wrote, “I wish I could have persuaded you to come to Dehra Dun, for not only would it have given me the greatest pleasure to see you personally, how much I honour you for having such a son as Radhanath, but you would yourself have, I am sure, been infinitely gratified at witnessing the high esteem in which he is held by his superiors and equals.”
Sir George Everest retired in 1843, and was succeeded by Colonel Andrew Scott Waugh. Eight years later, in 1851, Radhanath was promoted to the position of Chief Computer and transferred to Calcutta. He was also a Superintendent for the Meteorological Department. Radhanath started also measuring the snow-capped mountains in Darjeeling.
The “hardy, energetic young man, ready to undergo any trouble to acquire a practical knowledge of all parts of his profession” also contributed to modern mathematics, devising new formulas and applications.
According to British historian, John Keay, “His greatest contribution to the computation was in working out and applying the allowance to be made for a phenomenon called refraction – the bending of straight lines by the density of the Earth’s atmosphere.”
Radhanath Sikdar passed away in May 1870. Without his efforts, Peak XV would have just been another mountain in the Himalayas.
(adapted)
– Joy Kallivayalil.
