It is a sign of the faithless age in which we live that no one will really commit himself on precisely how long the equator is, and that contemporary theologians tend to blush at the notion of an astrophysical heaven. And now, science has dashed the last of my childhood geographical truths: Mount Everest may have fallen from its lofty heights.
Using laser beams, satellite linkups and other high-tech items, a team of American scientists has concluded that K-2, a Himalayan peak in northern Kashmir near the China border, may be 36 feet taller than Old Reliable. That makes it at least 29,064 feet (and possibly as much as 29,228 feet) above sea level. Everest, according to conventional measurements, is a mere 29,028 feet.
It seems to have been a simple enough scientific endeavor—your usual dull day in the lab. According to the New York Times (March 7, 1987, p.9), ...
