Sir — Akhouri Sinha, an Indian from Buxar district in Bihar, was recently honoured by the US Geological Department, when the southern-most mountain peak of the McDonald Mountains in the western Antarctic was named after him for his work that he carried out 42 years ago in conducting a census of the denizens in the coldest region, spanning a period of 22 weeks. This rare honour has made every Indian proud.
One more honour is long overdue to an Indian for over 160 years. Radhanath Sikdar, who was responsible for measuring the height of the highest Himalayan peak by applying the phenomenon called ‘refraction’, bending of straight lines by the density of the earth’s atmosphere, had been shamelessly deprived of recognition when the peak was named after George Everest who had neither any role to play in its measurement work nor was he involved with this project. In fact, Everest had retired and left for England about nine years before the height was discovered in 1852. Can we not correct the mistake of the English and name the highest mountain after Radhanath SikdarIJ