On 29 May 1953, at 11:30am local time, Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand along with Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mt. Everest for the first time. The highest point on Earth. It was one of the great achievements of the 20th Century. Tenzing revealed a few years after the event that it was Hillary who first placed his foot on the summit.
Not only did Edmund Hillary make a once-in-human-history achievement with his friend from Nepal, Tenzing Norgay, but by all accounts he was also an excellent man, who cared about others and worked to help the people of Nepal.