Mount Everest: The Highest Highs and The Lowest Lows – clip

Daniel Breen / Brandeis University

By 1856, geographers had confirmed that Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, and ever since then, no peak has loomed larger in the human imagination. Unfortunately, few mountains have been deadlier for climbers, over 300 of whom are known to have died seeking its summit.  In this presentation, Professor Daniel Breen will explore some of the triumphs and the tragedies of the human encounters with Everest: from the Victorian surveyors who first identified it as the “roof of the world,” to the men who–a century later–made the first successful ascent.