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Britannica offers biographies on both Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary (Tenzing Norgay is linked below).

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Researcher's Note: Height of Tenzing Norgay, (Nepalese: "Wealthy-Fortunate Follower of Religion")Norgay also spelled Norkey or Norkay, original name Namgyal Wangdi, (born May 15, 1914, Tshechu, Tibet [now Tibet Autonomous Region, China]-died May 9, 1986, Darjeeling [now Darjiling], West Bengal, India), Tibetan mountaineer who in 1953 became, with Edmund (later Sir Edmund) Hillary of New Zealand, the first person to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak (29,035 feet [8,850 metres]; see Mount Everest).

It is not known exactly when, how, or under what conditions the young Namgyal Wangdi came to live in the Khumbu region of Nepal (near Everest), nor is it known when he took the name Tenzing Norgay. Among the ethnic Sherpas, immigrant Tibetans such as Tenzing are known as Khambas and have low status and little or no wealth. Tenzing worked for several years for an affluent family in Khumjung, and, as a teen, he ran away from difficult conditions and settled in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. At age 19, having married a Sherpa, he was chosen as a porter for his first expedition; in 1935 he accompanied Eric Shipton's reconnaissance expedition of Everest. In the next few years he took part in more Everest expeditions than any other climber.

After World War II he became a sirdar, or organizer of porters, and in this capacity accompanied a number of expeditions. In 1952 the Swiss made two attempts on the southern route up Everest, on both of which Tenzing was sirdar. He went as sirdar of the British Everest expedition of 1953 and formed the second summit pair with Hillary. From a tent at 27,900 feet (8,500 metres) on the Southeast Ridge, they reached the summit at 11:30 am on May 29. He spent 15 minutes there "taking photographs and eating mint cake," and, as a devout Buddhist, he left an offering of food.

After his feat he was regarded as a legendary hero by many Nepalese and Indians. His many honours included Britain's George Medal and the Star of Nepal (Nepal Tara). Man of Everest (1955; also published as Tiger of the Snows), written in collaboration with James Ramsey Ullman, is an autobiography. After Everest (1978), as told to Malcolm Barnes, tells of his travels after the Everest ascent and his directorship of the Field Training Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, which the Indian government established in 1954. Tenzing: Hero of Everest (2003), a biography of Tenzing Norgay by mountaineer and journalist Ed Douglas, is a sensitive appreciation of his life, achievements, and disappointments.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Adam Augustyn, Managing Editor.

Mount Everest: Spring attempt of 1952

...party, Lambert, Flory, Aubert, and Tenzing Norgay (sirdar, or leader of the porters), with five Sherpas, tried to reach the col in one day. They were compelled to bivouac quite a distance below it (May 25) and the next day reached the summit of the Éperon, at 26,300 feet (8,016...

...Hillary, and the Tibetan guide Tenzing Norgay stood on the top of the world on May 29, 1953-was a culminating moment. That expedition, which was led by Colonel John Hunt, was the eighth team in 30 years to attempt Everest, and there had also been three reconnaissance expeditions....

...who, with the Tibetan mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, was the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest (29,035 feet [8,850 metres]; see Researcher's Note: Height of Mount Everest), the highest mountain in the world....

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Tenzing Norgay, Tibetan mountaineer who in 1953 became, with Edmund Hillary of New Zealand, the first person to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak (29,035 feet [8,850 meters]). After his feat he was regarded as a legendary hero by many Nepalese and Indians.

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This article is about Tenzing's life and the different events and experiences that he had. (same goes for Sir Edmund Hillary)

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Some information that can be found in this article is when he died and was born, where he lived and what he did throughout his life, as well as what happened after he achieved this accomplishment.

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~ The many different honors that he received after completing the expedition.
~ What him and Edmund did once they reached the summit

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Top China Travel gives some information of the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

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In 1953, Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay successfully ascended to the top of Mount Everest, at 11:30 A.M, on May 29. They were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Who is the First Person to Climb Mount Everest?

There is a dispute among climbers regarding to who is the first person to climb Mount Everest.

In 1924 Andrew Irvine and George Mallory started climbing the mount Everest and according to another climber Nicole, he saw them just 270 m below the peak. That means Irvin and Mallory came closest to the peak in June, 1924. However, they died there.

Now question is whether they died while climbing or after winning the people and returning?

Years later (in 1999), other climbers found out some of their equipment and the frozen dead body of George Mallory. But they never found out the camera, in which photograph may have been taken of their victory.

However, as there is no proof, we consider Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to be the first persons to climb the Everest in year 1953.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (1919.7.20~2008.1.11)

Edmund Hillary, one of the world's most famous mountaineers, was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1919 and died of a heart attack at the age of 88 in 2008.

He liked mountaineering and exploration activities since his childhood and began the practice of climbing expeditions in middle school.

On May 29, 1953, he climbed the south side of mount Everest with his partner Tenzing Norgay and stood at the top of the world for the first time. They wrote down an immortal page in the history of human exploration.

In addition to climbing Mount Qomolangma, he also conquered all of the 11 peaks in the Himalayas which are all in height above 6000 meters above sea level. After that, in 1958, he accomplished the feat of solo crossing the South Pole. It was another successful adventure for him. In 1975, he went to the source of the Ganges and embarked on a sacred journey. This behavior has earned him a high reputation in India. In the 1990s, he completed a round-the-world tour of financing for the United Nations children's agency and the United Nations wildlife conservation society.

Helen Clark, New Zealand's prime minister, said that Edmund Hillary is the most famous New Zealander, a legend in mountaineering and exploration. The government of New Zealand held a state funeral for Edmund Hillary in Auckland, the country's largest city on January 22, 2008. Flags were flown at half-mast across the country to commemorate this legendary hero. In honor of Edmund Hillary, the New Zealand 5 dollar use his portrait on the front.

Tenzing Norgay (May 29, 1914-1986)

Tenzin Norge, a famous Nepalese mountaineer, is a Sherpa and known as the "tiger of the snow mountain", the conqueror of mt. Everest.

He was born in the Solu Khumbu area near mount Everest and has been dreaming of climbing mount Everest since his childhood. From 18 years old, he began to serve for different national mountaineering team, and has repeatedly create new climbing records. He was called "three lung talented man".

After more than 20 years of efforts, finally in 1953, he was elected to be the guide of a British team, with New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary Clinton to shock mount Everest.

Since then, he had become a celebrity and had traveled to many countries to give speeches. But he returned to his homeland in his later years and died in 1986.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's Expedition

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were part of the British Everest Expedition led by Colonel John Hunt in 1953. For this expedition, Hunt selected a group of people who were good and experienced in climbing mountains in the whole British Empire. In the group, Edmund Hillary was selected from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay was actually recruited from Indian where he lived, though he was born a Sherpa. There was also a filmmaker, a physiologist along with the climbing team. Before climbing, the expedition had been organized and planed for month. They had made 9 camps on their way up some of which has been still used by climbers now.

Among all the climbers took part in the expedition, only 4 could get the chance to have a try to get to the top. The team leader, Hunt, selected two people from each team: Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans in the first team and Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in the second team. The first team made it up to the place which was just 300 feet shy of the summit, but they left on May 26. They actually had already reached the point that no man had reached before. They were forced to left because the bad weather and there were problems with their oxygen tanks.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Reaching the Top of Mount Everest

It was at 4 o'clock in the morning on May 29, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary woke up in their camp 9, and they were ready to climb. But the boots of Hillary were frozen and it took about 2 hours to defrosting the boots. They left their camp at 6:30 in the morning. On their climbing way, there was a particularly rock face which was difficult to climb, but Hillary finally find a way to conquer it. And the rock face is named "Hillary's step" now. Hillary and Tenzing reached the top of Mount Everest at 11:30a.m. They two men were so exciting and enjoyed 15 min at the summit of this highest mountain in the world. And then they began to go back down the mountain.

The news of the success expedition reached to the Queen Elizabeth II' coronation in London, and Hillary and Hunt were promptly knighted. Tenzing was also granted the George Medal by the UK. They were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

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The First Person to Reach the Top of Mt Everest: Edmund Hillary

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In 1953, Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay successfully ascended to the top of Mount Everest, at 11:30 A.M, on May 29. They were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. There is a dispute among climbers regarding to who is the first person to climb Mount Everest.

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This article is about the first people to reach the peak of Mount Everest.

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Some information that can be found in this article is some biography information about Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, what the expedition entailed, and some explanation of the controversy regarding who were the first people to reach the summit and when that happened.

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~ This expedition was led by Colonel John Hunt
~ On the last day of climbing, they faced a difficult rock face and Edmund Hillary found a way to conquer and so that rock face was named "Hillary's Step".

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National Geographic provides some background information on the event itself, in both article and video form.

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First Successful Summit of Mount Everest

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This article is about the first successful attempt of reaching the summit of Mount Everest.

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Some information that can found in this article is who the first people to climb Mount Everest were, when the first successful summit was, and how tall the mountain itself is.

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~ They reached the summit on May 29th, 1953
~ Mount Everest is 29,035 feet tall

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PBS interviews Sir Edmund Hillary, 50 years after he and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit.

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Towering 29,035 feet, it is the top of the world. And it was on this day at 11:30 a.m. In 1953 that Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, made history, becoming the first climbers to conquer Mount Everest, as seen in the "National Geographic" documentary "Surviving Everest." It took 16 days via the southeast ridge route.

After raising his ice axe on top of the mountain the Nepalese call Sagarmatha, or goddess of the universe, Tenzing was elevated to godlike status among the Sherpa people. And Hillary, a beekeeper from New Zealand, became a mountaineering icon.

Since that day 50 years ago, 10,000 climbers have tried to summit the mountain many call "The Big E," but only about 1,200 men and women have succeeded. The mountain was named in 1859 after Sir George Everest, the British surveyor general of India who originally called it "Peak XV" when he recorded its location.

In 1924, George Mallory and a British team set out to be the first to reach the highest point on earth, but he and another climber vanished near the summit. Mallory's body was discovered in 1999 on a rock ledge 2,000 feet from the summit.

More than 175 mountaineers have died trying make the treacherous trek to the top. The worst single loss came in May 1996 when a storm on the mountain claimed a dozen lives. 83-year-old Sir Edmund Hillary, knighted by queen Elizabeth in 1953, was in Nepal for the 50th anniversary celebrations this week.

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Climbing Mt. Everest: 50 years Since Sir Edmund Hillary's Summit

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Towering 29,035 feet, it is the top of the world. And it was on this day at 11:30 a.m. In 1953 that Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, made history, becoming the first climbers to conquer Mount Everest, as seen in the "National Geographic" documentary "Surviving Everest."

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This article provides insight of Sir Edmund Hillary's perspective of the whole experience.

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Some information that can be found in this article includes other people who have climbed the mountain, as well as their perspectives on it.

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~ What it feels like to stand on top of the highest peak in the world
~ What Sir Edmund Hillary's idea of a mountaineering expedition is