Colonel Sir George Everest (July 4, 1790 - December 1, 1866) was a British surveyor and geographer, and Surveyor-General of India from 1830 to 1843.

He was largely responsible for completion of the trigonometric survey of India along the meridian arc from the south of India extending north to Nepal (a distance of approximately 2400 kilometres). The survey was started by William Lambton in 1806 and lasted several decades. Mount Everest was surveyed in 1852 under his successor Andrew Waugh, who calculated its summit height, establishing it as the world's highest mountain. It was renamed in honour of George Everest in 1865.

Everest was born at Gwernvale Manor near Crickhowell, Powys, in Wales. He attended the military academy at Woolwich, excelling at mathematics. In 1806 he went to India as a cadet in the Bengal Artillery, and was selected by Sir Stamford Raffles to take part in the reconnaissance of Java between 1814 and 1816. In 1818 he was appointed as assistant to Colonel Lambton, who had started the Great Trigonometrical Survey of the sub-continent in 1806. In 1823, on Colonel Lambton's death, he succeeded to the post of superintendent of the survey, and in 1830 he was appointed surveyor-general of India. He retired in 1843 and returned to live in England, where he became fellow of the Royal Society. He was knighted in 1861 and in 1862 he was chosen vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society. He died at Greenwich in 1866, but is buried in St Andrews Church, Hove (near Brighton).

George Everest was the uncle of the mathematician Mary Everest Boole.

Sir George pronounced his last name [ˈivərɛst], different from the way in which it has been popularised,

E as in kEy
VER as in VERsion
EST as in ESTablishment

However the popular pronunciation in use is [ˈɛvərɛst]:

EVER as in EVER,
EST as in ESTablishment

Further reading

John Keay. 2000. The Great Arc. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0002570629.