Everest syndrome
noun · first attested 20th century
An academic vice named after a mountaineer's shortest recorded answer.
The tendency of researchers to study something merely because it is there to be studied.
27.9881°N 86.9250°E · Q513
Record
- Relationship
- Indirect, via a person or title
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 20th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Mount Everest
- In English
Everest syndrome
George Mallory was asked by a New York reporter in 1923 why he wanted to climb Everest and said, because it's there; he died on the mountain the following year. The phrase turns his line into a criticism of research chosen for availability rather than usefulness. The mountain carries the name of George Everest, Surveyor General of India, who objected to the naming and pronounced his surname eve-rest rather than ever-est.