Born in Vienna in 1922, Walter Hitschfeld received his B.A.Sc in Engineering Physics from the University of Toronto in 1946 and his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics from McGill University in 1950. He joined the staff of McGill's Physics Department in 1951. In 1961 he became Professor of Meteorology and Physics. Since 1962 Dr. Hitschfeld was Professor of Meteorology (Canada Steamship Lines). From 1964 to 1967 he was Chairman of the Meteorology Department, and from 1967 to 1971 Vice-Dean of Physical Sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Science. Then, in 1971, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research and Vice-Principal of Research, and served this position until 1980. In 1981 Dr. Hitschfeld accepted the invitation to become Director of McGill International. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, and a member of the Canadian Association of Physicists, the Canadian Meteorological Society, of which he was President from 1973 to 1974, the American Meteorological Society and the Society of Sigma X. Dr. Hitschfeld authored more than 20 articles on cloud physics and related subjects, and received Darton Prizes for meteorological research in 1960, 1962 and 1963. To honour Dr. Hitschfeld's authority in cloud physics and radar meteorology, the Environmental Earth Sciences Library was named after him. Dr. Hitschfeld died in 1986 in Montreal.

Dr. Samuel Junius Parker was born on May 18, 1819, in Danby, Tompkins, New York.

He was a physician and surgeon. He graduated from the Union Theological Seminary. Preaching for a few years put a strain on his voice, and thus, he decided to attend the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He served as the ship surgeon in the United States flagships stationed at Mobile. During the Civil War, he served as a surgeon under the auspices of the Christian commission.

He married Rachel Florence Parker (1819-1898). He died on January 30, 1898, in Ithaca, Tompkins, New York.

Peter Eakins was born in Montréal and was educated at McGill University, obtaining his B.Sc. in 1948, his M.Sc. in 1949, and his Ph.D. in geology in 1952. From 1955 to 1957, he worked in Peru as geologist with Malartic Gold Fields, Ltd. and from 1957 to 1958 he was chief geologist at Mineral Management Ltd. He also served as a consultant geologist for Mkuski Copper Mines in Zambia from 1967 to 1968. Eakins became a lecturer in geology at McGill in 1958, Assistant Professor in 1959 and Associate Professor in 1964. He has also collected correspondence and papers documenting geology at McGill, much of which has been deposited in the University Archives.

Marmaduke Matthews was born on August 29, 1837, in Barcheston, Warwickshire, England.

He was a landscape painter. He attended Cowley School, Oxford, England, where he studied watercolour painting under T. M. Richardson. He also studied art at London University, England. In 1860, he moved to Canada and settled in Toronto, Ontario. He was hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway to paint the Canadian prairies and the Rocky Mountains. He worked under William van Horne, then-president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and made several cross-country trips to Canada's west (1887, 1889, and 1892). He was one of the founders of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In Toronto, he is remembered as the creator of Wychwood Park in 1874. His works are part of the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery.

In 1864, he married Cyrilda Jane Bernard (1843-1931). He died on September 24, 1913, in Toronto, Ontario.

Hamish William McIntosh was born in Vancouver on January 13, 1920. He lived in Cleveland, Ohio and Montreal, Quebec as a child. He was educated in England at St Hugh's School, and then at Cambridge for his M.B. At McGill, he was the case reporter of the Medical Undergraduate Society 1942. He received his M.D.,C.M. from McGill University in 1943 and received the Alexander D. Stewart Memorial Prize. He interned at Montreal General Hospital after which he served as a RCAMC Medical Officer. From 1946 to 1947 he became resident at the Royal Victoria Hospital to train in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases. He was the Caverhill Research Fellow at McGill University Clinic from 1947-1949. He received his Fellowship in medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and Diploma in Internal Medicine and M.Sc (Experimental Medicine) from McGill University. In 1949, he was awarded the Osler Scholarship of the Canadian Medical Association and was on the Endocrine staff at the Cleveland Clinic. In 1950, he became director of the Clinical Investigation Unit at Shaughnessy Hospital, Vancouver, B.C. and remained in this position for 25 years. In 1951, he was appointed to clinical teaching faculty at UBC, becoming full Professor of Medicine in 1966 and then Emeritus Professor in 1985. He published over 100 scientific medical papers.

His grandfather, Dr. James McIntosh, was also a McGill graduate.