Ray Powell was born in Tablegrove, Illinois, and educated at the University of Illinois. A member of McGill's Board of Governors from 1950 onwards, he served as Chancellor of the University from 1957 to 1964. At the time of his appointment as Chancellor, he was Senior Vice-President and Director of the Aluminium Co. of Canada, Ltd.
Robert Henry Wynyard Powell was born on February 16, 1856, in Toronto, Ontario.
He was a physician. He graduated from McGill University in 1876. He was a member of the Ontario Medical Council and served as the 32nd president of the Canadian Medical Association (1899). Dr. Powell was the attending physician of Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-1891), the first prime minister of Canada, and made his death proclamation on June 6, 1891. He was the author of the publications "The Doctor in Canada: His Whereabouts and Laws Which Govern Him" (1890) and "Registration Under the Canada Medical Act" (1914?).
In 1882, he married Elizabeth Fisher Torrance (1859–1922). He died on April 4, 1935, in Ottawa, Ontario.
John Wesley Powell was born on March 24, 1834, in Mount Morris, New York.
He was an American geologist, explorer, ethnologist, and educator. He studied at Illinois and Oberlin College but was unable to attain his degree. During his studies, Powell acquired knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin. He had a restless nature and a deep interest in the natural sciences. In 1855, he spent four months walking across Wisconsin and in 1856, he rowed the Mississippi River from St. Anthony, Minnesota, to the sea. In 1859, he was elected to the Illinois Natural History Society. In 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army as a cartographer, topographer, and military engineer. He lost his arm at the Battle of Shiloh. In 1865, he became Professor of Geology at the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, and he lectured at Illinois State Normal University. Powell helped expand the collections of the Museum of the Illinois State Natural History Society, where he served as curator. After 1867, he led a series of expeditions into the Rocky Mountains and around the Green and Colorado rivers. In 1881, Powell was appointed the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, a post he held until his resignation in 1894. In 1879, he became the director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution and remained there until his death. He served as president of the Philosophical Society of Washington (1884) and president of the Anthropological Society of Washington (1879-1888). He received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg (1886) and honorary LL.D. from Harvard University (1886).
In 1861, he married Emma Dean (1836–1924). He died on September 23, 1902, in Haven Colony, Brooklin, Maine, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Louis François de Pourtalès was born on March 4, 1824, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
He was a Franco-American naturalist and author. He was educated as an engineer and was an expert in mathematics, physics, and zoology, with an interest in literature, poetry, and history. In 1840, he accompanied Prof. Louis Agassiz on glacial expeditions in the Alps and, in 1847, he followed Agassiz to the United States. In 1848, he entered government service with the Coast Survey and became profoundly interested in the deep sea. In 1851, he assisted in the triangulation of the Florida Reef, and from 1854 until his resignation in 1873, he oversaw the office and fieldwork of the tidal department of the Coast Survey. In 1873, he became custodian of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and was later appointed its Keeper, working closely with curator Alexander Agassiz. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and contributor to the Journal of Science and the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He published numerous Coast Survey reports, e.g., "Deep Sea Corals" (1871), "Corals at the Galapagos Islands" (1875), and "Florida Reef" (1880).
In 1848, he married Marienne Elise Bachman (1827–1897). He died on July 18, 1880, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
