Carl Franz Robinow was born in Hamburg (Germany) in 1909 and became a naturalized British subject in 1946. He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in the University of Hamburg in 1934. He then spent two years in the Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen, and went to England in 1937 where he worked for the next ten years in London and in Cambridge. During this period his work involved the cytology of sponges, cytology of tissue cultures and life cycle of vaccinia virus, and the study of inclusion bodies. In England he started his work on the cytology of bacteria which has brought him world-wide renown and which has guided and stimulated the work of others in many countries. In 1948 he went to the United States as a Visiting Professor to four different universities and in 1949 accepted the appointment of Associate Professor of Bacteriology in the University of Western Ontario and became Professor there in 1956. The Royal Society of Canada awarded Dr. Robinow the Harrison Prize in 1957. His outstanding contribution for which he is so widely known and honoured relates to his studies of microbial structure - in particular, the very significant contribution made to the understanding of the form behaviour and nature of the "nucleoids" or "chromatin bodies" of bacteria.

Professor Roots is a pioneer in the study of adaptations of the nervous system to environmental changes, and a pioneer in techniques to isolate and characterize individual nerve cells. She has monitored and described biochemical and ultrastructural changes in neurons of animals adapted to different temperatures, nutritional regimes, and oxygen tensions, emphasizing the importance of membrane lipids in maintenance of membrane fluidity and permeability. Interactions between neurons and glial cells were explored by Dr. Roots and her co-workers. She helped establish biological science at Erindale College, University of Toronto, and is a former Chair of the Department of Zoology, University of Toronto.

Dr. Janet Rossant merits recognition for her sustained and important contributions to the cellular and molecular mechanisms of mammalian embryological development. She pioneered the use of chimaeric mice to study lineage development in the early mouse embryo and was amongst the first to apply gene targetting approaches to create mice carrying mutations in important regulatory genes. She and her colleagues have also pioneered the development of novel approaches to identify and mutate novel genes critical to embryological development.

Dr. Rothstein is best known for his innovative studies on molecular mechanisms of ion transport, first with red cell membranes, and later with other types of mammalian cells and tissues. He has established an international reputation in his field as indicated by the many invitations he receives to present papers, to attend symposia, to write review articles, to act on several editorial boards and peer review committees and to serve as visiting professor throughout the world. Dr. Rothstein has been equally successful as a scientific administrator and he is generally acknowledged to have few peers in this area anywhere.

Alfred Rudin is one of Canada's leading polymer chemists. He has gained international recognition for his work in an unusually wide area of polymer science. His work on polymer characterization has been ground-breaking, particularly with regard to polyolefins and polyvinyl alcohol, which are complex in structure and difficultly soluble. The ability to combine outstanding instrumental skills with a keen appreciation for practical spin-offs has been a hallmark of Rudin's research. His work on processing of thermoplastics has led to a recognition of the effects of processing history on viscoelastic behaviour of polymers. More recently, Rudin has turned his attention to synthetic aspects of emulsion polymerization, where he has achieved a world-wide reputation. This phenomenon has a significant impact on the design and control of polyolefins and on our understanding of rheological behaviour.

The scientific researches of R. D. Russell have covered a broad field centered about geophysics, and include publications in such diverse subjects as electrical engineering, micro-chemistry and glaciology. However his most important contributions have been concerned with the measurement and interpretation of variations of the isotopic abundances of lead in minerals, and in this field he has acquired a worldwide reputation. Interpretations suggested by him have related lead isotope measurements to the origin of ore deposits, to continental structure, and to geochemical relationships between the earth's crust and upper mantle. In recent years his research has been concerned with the conversion of seismic wave energy to electro-magnetics, a phenomenon known as seismoelectricity, and its possible application to mineral exploration

An outstanding and very active Quaternary geologist, who is applying and promoting multidisciplinary approach in solving Quaternary problems. An authority on the Quaternary stratigraphy in the contact area of the Cordilleran glaciers and the Laurentide ice sheet. He established the first amino acid dating laboratory in Canada; the only one that has fully evaluated the use of wood in aminostratigraphy. More than 140 publications in 22 years. In recognition of Rutter's scientific accomplishments and involvement in many international projects, he was elected President of INQUA (International Quaternary Research Association) for the period 1987-1991.

Professor Salcudean is an outstanding authority on numerical simulation of heat and mass transport in a wide variety of industrially important processes including crystal growth, casting, cooling of turbine blades, combustion, boiling in nuclear reactors, pulp making and other processes. In team leadership she is brilliant at intellectual nucleation and high energy activation of scintillating ideas, which a host of students are happily helping her to bring to full success. She is fearless, thoughtful and indefatigable in pursuit of what is new and significant. She is a leader in the study of the research environment and in inspiring others to redouble their efforts toward challenging objectives.

Dr. Samarasekera is best known for her outstanding work in the continuous casting of steel. In this work she has combined mathematical modelling of the heat flow and stress fields in the system with unique in-plant measurements. These results have led to major improvements in continuous casting in plants throughout the world. She has made important contributions to our understanding of the hot rolling of steels, and has done extensive work dealing with the growth of large semiconductor and optical crystals pulled from the melt, among other activities. Her outstanding work is recognized internationally.

Professor Sandorfy has acquired an international reputation as a distinguished theoretical chemist and molecular spectroscopist. As an author of about 250 scientific publications and two authoritative textbooks (one of which has been translated into German and Japanese) his scholarly contributions to the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular spectroscopy have done a great deal to elucidate the theory of the electronic structure of molecules relating, in particular, to hydrogen bonding and to the higher excited states of organic molecules. Many of his publications are considered by authors of review articles to have been instrumental in correlating a mass of experimental, apparently unrelated, data and to have provided the groundwork for many of the advanced treatments used today.