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Eric Mills is an invertebrate zoologist, biological oceanographer, and historian of science. Born in 1936 in Toronto, Ontario, he received his BSc from Carleton University in 1959 and his MSc and PhD from Yale University in 1962 and 1964. His teaching and research included work at Carleton University; Queen’s University; the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts; and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California. From 1967-2002 he taught at both Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College, serving as chairman of Dalhousie's Department of Oceanography from 1990-1992 and as the inaugural director of King's History of Science & Technology Program from 2001-2002. He retired from full-time employment as Professor Emeritus of the History of Science in the Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, and Inglis Professor, University of King’s College.

Mills' earliest work was in marine ecology, leading to his involvement with the Hudson 70 Expedition, the first Canadian biological oceanographic research in the Antarctic. His later studies in the history of science included nineteenth-century natural history, the development of biological and physical oceanography, and the history of Canadian science. He has maintained vigorous personal and professional interest in birds and birding throughout his life.

George Geoffrey Meyerhof was a distinguished geotechnical engineer, best known for his work on the bearing capacity of foundations. He is the author of over 200 papers, a book on structural and soil mechanics, and a booklet called "Memories of a Civil Engineer in World War II."

Born in Kiel, Germany in 1916, Meyerhof was the son of the late Nobel Laureate in Physiology, Otto Meyerhof. After graduating in 1938 with a B.Sc. from London University, he worked with consulting structural engineers in England for several years. In 1946 he joined the British government's Building Research Station near London, where he carried out extensive research on soil mechanics and foundation problems. In 1950 he obtained his Ph.D in engineering from London University, which later awarded him a D.Sc.

Meyerhof emigrated to Canada in 1953 and was appointed Supervising Engineer in the Foundation of Canada Engineering Corporation in Montreal. In 1955 he joined the Nova Scotia Technical College (later TUNS) and served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering between 1964-1970.

Meyerhof was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and many other scientific and engineering societies in Canada and abroad. In 1999 Meyerhof received the Order of Canada for distinguished service in geotechnical engineering. He was also awarded the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia's prestigious F.H. Sexton Award and the year 2000 Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers (United Kingdom). He was awarded the Centennial Medal of Canada, the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal, and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for outstanding service to Canada. Other honours include the Duggan Medal and the Julian C. Smith Medal of the Engineering Institute of Canada, the R.F. Legget Award of the Canadian Geotechnical Society, the Engineering Award of the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia, and the Karl Terzaghi Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Meyerhof was the first President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society, a Council Member of the Engineering Institute of Canada, a Council Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain, a Terzaghi Lecturer of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Buchanan Lecturer of Texas A&M University, and a Hardy Lecturer of the Canadian Geotechnical Society. His honorary degrees include Doctor of Engineering degrees from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany and the Technical University of Nova Scotia; Doctor of Science degrees from the University of Ghent (Belgium), McMaster University (Hamilton) and Queen's University (Kingston); and the Doctor of Laws degree from Concordia University (Ottawa).

He was a founding member of the Halifax Grammar School, and a supporter of music and theatre in Halifax.

Andrew Doane Merkel was a journalist and poet. Born in New York State in 1884, he came to Nova Scotia when his father, Rev. A. Deb Merkel, took over a parish in Digby. He was educated at King's College, Windsor, and spent most of his adult life in Halifax.

Merkel began his career writing for the Philadelphia North American and the Sydney Record. He was news editor of the Saint John Standard from 1908 until 1910, when he came to Halifax as editor of the Halifax Echo. In 1917 he was hired as the Maritime News Editor for the Canadian Press in Montreal. He returned to Halifax in 1919 when he was appointed Superintendent of the Canadian Press's Atlantic Division. By his retirement in 1946 Merkel had covered a range of regional, national and international stories that included Marconi’s transmission from Cape Breton; the sinking of the Titanic; the first airplane flight in the British Empire; and two world wars. He retired to Port Royal where he purchased a large property adjacent to the Port Royal Habitation, hoping to establish a radio station and tourist attraction in the area. After the death of his wife in the early 1950s, Merkel returned to Halifax, where he died in 1954.

His first book-length poem, The Order of Good Cheer, completed in the early 1920s, was not published until 1944. His second, Tallahasse, was published the following year. Both works illustrate his abiding interest in Nova Scotian history. He also published two works of non-fiction: Letters from the Front (1914) and Bluenose Schooner (1948). In the 1920s Merkel was a member of the Halifax literary group The Song Fishermen; he and his wife, Florence (Tully) E. Sutherland, regularly hosted writers and artists at their South End home, including Bliss Carman, Charles G.D. Roberts, Charles Bruce, Kenneth Leslie and Robert Norwood.