New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist, Edmund Hillary was born on this day, July 20, in 1919.
On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
Among many other accolades, Hillary was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June, 1953, and he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal the same year.