Historians on the hunt for frozen, 86-year-old camera

By at 7:32 am Tuesday, Jan 26

everest coin.jpg

Did George Mallory and Andrew Irvine make it to the top of Mt. Everest three decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? A group of historians hope to finally have proof—one way or the other—sometime next year, when they will set out to what investigate what they believe is Irvine's body.

Mallory and Irvine disappeared on Everest in 1924. They were known to be within a kilometer of the summit. Mallory's body was found in 1999, but experts say Irvine's corpse could be the real find.

Why? Because Irvine was carrying the camera.

Of course, a lot of questions remain. The anomaly thought to be Irvine was spotted in high-resolution aerial photographs from 1984. It may or may not actually be a body. If it is a body, it may or may not actually be Irvine. And, even if it is Irvine, the camera may or may not be there, or be there in a condition that makes developing the film possible.

Scientific American: Could a Frozen Camera Dethrone Hillary and Norgay as the the first to summit Everest?

Image courtesy Flickr user kevindooley, via CC

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Maggie Koerth-Baker

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