{"id":"edmund-hillary","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/edmund-hillary","language":"en","name":"Edmund Hillary","name_en":"Edmund Hillary","name_ne":"एडमण्ड हिलारी","description":"New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)","headline":"New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, he and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, which was led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988, he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal.","summary_more":["Hillary became interested in mountaineering while in secondary school. He made his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during World War II and was wounded in an accident. Prior to the Everest expedition, Hillary had been part of the British reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 as well as an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952.","As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Hillary reached the South Pole overland in 1958. He subsequently reached the North Pole, making him the first person to reach both poles and summit Everest. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.","Beginning in 1960, Hillary devoted himself to assisting the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he established. His efforts are credited with the construction of many schools and hospitals in Nepal. Hillary had numerous honours conferred upon him, including the Order of the Garter in 1995. Upon his death in 2008, he was given a state funeral in New Zealand."],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"20 July 1919","date":"1919-07-20"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Auckland","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37100"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"11 January 2008","date":"2008-01-11"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Auckland","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37100"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"New Zealand","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q664","start":"1949-01-01"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"explorer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11900058"},{"text":"philanthropist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12362622"},{"text":"beekeeper","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q852389"},{"text":"diplomat","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q193391"},{"text":"autobiographer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18814623"},{"text":"mountaineer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9149093"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P106"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"Auckland Grammar School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37819"},{"text":"University of Auckland","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q492467"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"June Hillary","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22287131","start":"1989","end":"2008"},{"text":"Louise Mary Rose","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22287128","start":"1953","end":"1975"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P26"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"ambassador of New Zealand to Nepal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30301456"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P39"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12201445","start":"1953-06-06"},{"text":"Knight of the Garter","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12198181","date":"1995-04-22"},{"text":"Polar Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1093361"},{"text":"Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3885232","date":"1953"},{"text":"Patron’s Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26837312","date":"1958"},{"text":"Padma Vibhushan","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q672392"},{"text":"Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19904118","date":"1955"},{"text":"Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q94793"},{"text":"1939–45 Star","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2309070"},{"text":"Padma Bhushan","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q932650"},{"text":"New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13954816"},{"text":"Order of New Zealand","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q973829","date":"1987"},{"text":"Commander of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20853466"},{"text":"honorary doctor of the University of Waikato","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q99189734","date":"2006"},{"text":"Livingstone Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10568200"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary","https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%8F%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A1_%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%80","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Edmund Hillary born?","a":"Edmund Hillary was born on 20 July 1919 in Auckland."},{"q":"What positions has Edmund Hillary held?","a":"Positions held by Edmund Hillary include: ambassador of New Zealand to Nepal."},{"q":"Where did Edmund Hillary study?","a":"Edmund Hillary was educated at Auckland Grammar School, University of Auckland."}],"related":[{"name":"Reinhold Messner","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/reinhold-messner"},{"name":"Junko Tabei","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/junko-tabei"},{"name":"Roald Amundsen","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/roald-amundsen"},{"name":"Neil Armstrong","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/neil-armstrong"},{"name":"Yuri Gagarin","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/yuri-gagarin"},{"name":"Valentina Tereshkova","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/valentina-tereshkova"},{"name":"Ernest Shackleton","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ernest-shackleton"},{"name":"Jacques Cousteau","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/jacques-cousteau"},{"name":"Ibn Battuta","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ibn-battuta"},{"name":"Kalpana Chawla","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/kalpana-chawla"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/edmund-hillary-51d1f00860.jpg","width":500,"height":636,"license":"Public domain","credit":"Photographer unidentified. Retouched by TimofKingsland .","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edmund_Hillary,_c._1953,_autograph_removed.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Edmund Hillary","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikipedia (Nepali): एडमण्ड हिलारी","url":"https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%8F%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A1_%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%80","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q33817","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33817","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Edmund Hillary, c. 1953, autograph removed.jpg by Photographer unidentified. Retouched by TimofKingsland . (Public domain)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edmund_Hillary,_c._1953,_autograph_removed.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Edmund Hillary, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Edmund Hillary, c. 1953, autograph removed.jpg — Photographer unidentified. Retouched by TimofKingsland ., Public domain.","cite":"\"Edmund Hillary\". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/edmund-hillary. Retrieved 4 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-31T13:59:50Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-03","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/edmund-hillary","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/edmund-hillary","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/edmund-hillary?lang=ne"}}