1901-1924

British mountaineer who with George Mallory disappeared on a Mt. Everest expedition in 1924. An engineering student on leave from Merton College, he joined the Mallory team as a somewhat inexperienced mountaineer, but he was resourceful and practically minded and was able to maintain the oxygen apparatus needed for the summit of Everest. The question of whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit still remains unanswered. A 1999 expedition on the peak discovered Mallory's body but not Irvine's.