Julius Erasmus Hilgard was born on January 7, 1825, in Zweibrücken, Bayern, Germany.

He was a German-American engineer and geodesist. In 1835, he arrived with his family in America. He was then taught at home by his father Theodor Erasmus Hilgard (1790-1873), a judge, until 1843, when he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to study civil engineering. His first work was in the preliminary surveys of the Bear Mountain Railroad. Due to his abilities, he soon got a position in the U.S. Coast Survey, where he served, with short interruptions, until his death. In 1845, Hilgard began surveying coastline in the lower Chesapeake Bay, and between 1846 and 1850 he divided his time between taking part in surveys of the Mississippi Sound and the Florida Keys and making computations in the office. Throughout the American Civil War, he served the Union army and navy by the construction of maps and charts and by surveys as well as by tidal and other information. In 1863, he played a prominent role in organizing the National Academy of Sciences to advise the U.S. government on matters related to science and technology and became one of its first fifty members. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1863. From 1864 to 1867, he served as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey’s Acting Superintendent. In 1872, he joined the International Metric Commission at Paris and was made a member of the permanent committee. In 1875, he was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1848. he married Catherine S. Clements (1828-1894). He died on May 8, 1891, in Washington, D.C., USA.

Albert James Hill was born on April 7, 1836, in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

He was a pioneer in the British Columbia railway building and an eminent civil engineer and land surveyor of Dominion-wide reputation in geological research. As an engineer with extensive railroading experience during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, he established his land surveying practice in New Westminster, B.C. in 1890. He also served as a Provincial Land Surveyor and was one of the directors of Coquitlam Waterworks Co. Ltd. He was later active in municipal affairs.

In 1866, he married Agnes Lawrence (ca. 1841- ). He died on November 26, 1918, in New Westminster, British Columbia.

Thomas Hincks was born on July 15, 1818, in Exeter, Devon, England.

He was a British Unitarian minister and a naturalist. He studied at Manchester New College (1833-1839) and the University of London (B.A., 1840). He became a Unitarian minister and served at Cork (1839), Dublin (1842), Warrington (1844), Exeter (1846), Sheffield (1852), and Leeds (1855). He lost his voice whilst at Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds, and had to resign. He retired to Clifton and studied zoophytes, especially in Devon. He published “A History of the British Hydroid Zoophytes” (1868) and “A History of the British Marine Polyzoa” (1880). In 1872, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. At least six genera and 13 species of invertebrates are named in his honour.

He married Elizabeth Allen. He died on January 25, 1899, in Bedminster, Somerset, England.

William Hincks was born on April 16, 1794, in Cork, Ireland.

He was a Presbyterian and Unitarian clergyman and natural historian. He spent much of his career as a social reformer, advocating the abolition of slavery, and promoting a shorter workweek. He studied at Manchester College, York (1809-1814) and became a Minister at Cork (1814-1817); Exeter (1817-1822); and Renshaw Street, Liverpool (1822-1827). In 1826, he became a tutor in mathematics, natural, mental, and moral philosophy at Manchester College, York (1827-1839). He also served as minister at Stamford Street, London (1839-1852) and the first editor of The Inquirer (1842-1849). In 1853, he emigrated to Toronto to take up a position as Professor of Natural History at a newly created University College of the University of Toronto. While there, he published his catalogue of birds of western Canada (now Ontario). He served as editor of the journal of the Canadian Institute and he contributed numerous papers on natural history and other topics. He went on to become president of the Canadian Institute. The specimens he accumulated while at the University of Toronto later became part of the Royal Ontario Museum.

In 1817, he married Maria Anne Yandell (1789–1849). He died on September 10, 1871, in Toronto, Ontario.

Henry Youle Hind was born on June 1, 1823, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England.

He was a teacher, professor, journalist, geologist, explorer, and author. He attended college at Leipzig, Germany, 1837-1839, and studied in England and France before immigrating to Toronto, Ontario in 1846. He became an assistant master in the new Normal School, where he lectured in mathematics, natural philosophy, and agricultural chemistry. In 1851, he joined the reorganized Canadian Institute, and in 1852, he became the first editor of its Canadian Journal: A Repertory of Industry, Science and Art (Toronto), a position he retained until 1855. In 1851, he joined the University of Trinity College as a Professor of Chemistry and Geology. The Geological Survey of Canada asked him to join an expedition to explore the territory between Fort William and the Red River settlement at Fort Garry. Hind's “Narrative of the Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857” was published in 1860. In 1858, he took part in the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan expeditions. Following his return to Toronto, he resumed his teaching position at the University of Toronto, Trinity College, and in 1861, he became editor of the Journal of the Board of Arts and Manufactures (Toronto). He was a member of the Royal Canadian Institute. In 1864, he travelled to England to read a paper on the glacial drift, to the Geological Society of London. In 1866, he moved his family to Windsor, Nova Scotia where he became a consulting geologist for the provincial government. He published numerous articles on geology, the natural sciences, and agriculture. In 1876, he surveyed the coast of Labrador and became interested in its fisheries and ocean currents. His map of Labrador currents brought him a gold medal at the World Expo in Paris in 1878.

In 1850, he married Katharine Cameron (1820-1909). He died in 1908 in Windsor, Nova Scotia.