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- Radhanath Sikdar (1813–1870) was a Bengali Indian mathematician who, among many other things, calculated the height of Peak XV in the Himalaya and showed it to be the tallest mountain above sea level. Peak XV was later named Mount Everest. Alone among the great Derozians he took to science as his life's mainstay. When in 1831 George Everest was searching for a brilliant young mathematician with particular proficiency in Spherical Trigonometry, the maths teacher Dr. John Tytler superlatively recommended the name of his pupil Radhanath, then only 19. Radhanath joined the GTS in 1931 December as a "computor". Soon he was sent to Sironj near Dehra Dun where he excelled in geodetic surveying. Apart from mastering the usual processes, he invented quite a few of his own. Everest was extremely pleased with his performance, so much so that when Sikdar wanted to leave GTS and be a Deputy Collector, Everest intervened, proclaiming that no government officer can change over to another department without the approval of his boss. Everest retired in 1843 and Col. Waugh became the Director. After 20 years in the North, he was transferred to Calcutta in 1851. Here apart from his duties of the GTS, he also served as the Superintendent of the Meteorological department. Here he introduced quite a few innovations that were to remain standard procedure for many decades to come. The most notable was the conversion to 32 degrees Fahrenheit the barometric readings taken at different temperatures. At the order of Col. Waugh he started measuring the snow capped mountains near Darjeeling. Compiling data about Peak XV from six different observations, he eventually came to the conclusion the Peak XV was the tallest in the world. He gave a full report to Waugh who was cautious enough not to announce this discovery before checking with other data. When after some years, he was convinced, only then did he publicly announce the same. The norm, strictly followed by Everest himself, was that while naming a peak, the local name should be preferred. But in this case, Waugh made an exception. He paid a tribute to his ex-boss Everest by giving the peak his name. Sikdar was conveniently forgotten. Nevertheless, in recognition of Sikdar's mathematical genius the German Philosophical Institute's Bavaria branch of Natural Science made him a Corresponding Member in 1864, a very rare honour those days. Sikdar had retired from service in 1862. Sikdar worked for the Surveyor General of India, a division of the British Raj in India at that time. He joined the Great Trigonometric Survey in 1832 and was educated at Phiringi Kamal Bose's School and Hindu College in Calcutta, India. In 1854, he started the journal Masik Patrika, for the education and empowerment of women. He died on 17 May 1870 at Gondalpara, Chandannagar in his villa by the side of the Ganga Some Indians, including the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are of the opinion that Mount Everest should be renamed after Sikdar. The Department of Posts, India, launched a postal stamp on June 27, 2004, commemorating the establishment of the Great Trigonometric Survey in Chennai, India on April 10, 1802. The stamps feature Radhanath Sikdar and Nain Singh, two significant contributors to society. The Great Arc refers to the systematic exploration and recording of the entire topography of the Indian subcontinent which was spear-headed by the Great Trigonometric Survey. References: Jogesh Chandra Bagal, Unabingsha Shatabdir Bangla, 1941 Sivanath Shastri, Ramatanu Lahiri o Tatkalin BangaSamaj, 1904 Ajana Chaudhury, R R Kelkar and A. K. Sen Sarma, 'Technology: Through the haze of time & neglect', The Statesman, Kolkata, 1 March 2009
- Radhanath Sikdar était un mathématicien et topographe du Bengale qui calcula par des calculs trigonométriques la hauteur du « Peak XV » dans l'Himalaya et découvra qu'il s'agissait de la plus haute montagne au-dessus du niveau de la mer. Le « Peak XV » a plus tard été nommé le mont Everest.
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