Thomas Johann ("Tom") Arnason was born in Brown, Manitoba, in 1905. During his long career at the University of Saskatchewan he taught in a broad range of specialties in plant biology, including morphology, evolution, cytology and genetics. His research activity included studies on gene transfer in wheat hybrids, meiotic behaviour of corn-teosinte hybrids, sterility in potatoes, maternal inheritance in the cereals and mutagenesis by ionizing radiation and alkylating agents. He and one of his students, ME. Cummings, were among the first to demonstrate chromosome anomalies induced by absorbed radioactive isotopes in plants. Professor Arnason was also active in the formation of the Genetics Society of Canada and served as its president in 1957-58. He was named Professor Emeritus when he retired from the University in 1972.

The Saskatchewan Research Council and the University's Department of Geological Sciences co-operated in the project and soon more graduates became involved. R.G. Arnold was head of the Department at this time.

Gladys Arnold was born in Macoun, Saskatchewan in October, 1905, the daughter of CPR official Cyranus Albert Arnold. She received her high school education in Calgary, Edmonton, and Weyburn, then taught in rural Saskatchewan schools for four years before resigning to attend Success Business College in Winnipeg. Upon graduation she taught English at the new Success Business College in Regina. In 1929 she joined the staff of the Regina 'Leader Post' where she served as a secretary, reporter, columnist, feature writer, and editorial page assistant while attending various evening classes at Regina College and Luther College. In 1935 Miss Arnold traveled to Paris where she worked as a correspondent for the Sifton Newspapers and the Canadian Press, and did some freelance writing. From 1939 until June of 1940 she was the only Canadian foreign correspondent in Paris. Fleeing Paris just ahead of the Nazi occupation, she reached London and returned to Canada in August 1940. She resigned her post with the Canadian Press in order to establish, with Elizabeth de Miribel, the Free French Information Service in Ottawa. When the Information Service closed in December, 1947, Miss Arnold was asked to set up the French Information Service at the French Embassy in Ottawa, and she served as its director until her retirement in 1971. In 1951 she obtained her B.A. in Journalism from Carleton University. Gladys Arnold has written numerous articles and in 1987 published a book about her wartime experiences, 'One Woman's War: A Canadian Reporter with the Free French' (Toronto: J. Lorimer, 1987). For her service to France she was named Honorary Brigadier in the French Free Forces in 1940, and Chevalier de la lgion d'honneur in 1975. In 1988 the University of Regina presented her with an honorary Doctor of Laws.