Patrick Douglas Baird (1912 – 1 January 1984) was a Scottish glaciologist who worked in the Canadian Arctic. He was born the fourth son of Brigadier-General E.W.D. Baird of Caithness, Scotland and was educated at Edinburgh Academy and

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

, graduating in Geology. After working for some years as a geologist in Africa he joined the British-Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1936-1939, working in Southampton Island, the Melville Peninsula and

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

. In 1939 he crossed

Bylot Island Bylot Island lies off the northern end of Baffin Island in Nunavut Territory, Canada. Eclipse Sound to the southeast and Navy Board Inlet to the southwest separate it from Baffin Island. Parry Channel lies to its northwest. At it is ranked 71st ...

and sailed in the

Hudson Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

ship '' Nascopie'' to join the

Royal Canadian Artillery , colors = The guns of the RCA themselves , colors_label = Colours , march = * Slow march: "Royal Artillery Slow March" * Quick march (dismounted parades): "British Grenadiers/The ...

. During the war he was concerned with paratrooper training in Scotland and with arctic and mountain warfare training back in Canada, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He achieved a measure of celebrity status in 1945/1946 when he successfully led the main party in "Exercise Muskox" on a 3400-mile expedition around the Canadian Arctic from Churchill via Victoria Island and Coppermine to the Peace River. In 1946 he was appointed chief of the Arctic Section of the Canadian Defence Research Board and the following year made Director of the Montreal Office of the Arctic Institute of North America, an organisation established to improve Canadian scientific and technical expertise in the Arctic. During his time there he organised and led two major expeditions to Baffin Island, one in 1950 to the

Barnes Ice Cap The Barnes Ice Cap is an ice cap located in central Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Geography It covers close to in the area of the Baffin Mountains. It has been thinning due to regional warming. Between 2004 and 2006, the ice cap was thinning ...

region and one in 1953 to the Pangnirtung Pass and Penny Highlands area, which carried out the first glaciological investigations in the Canadian Arctic. Baird became an acknowledged authority on mountain glacier research and arctic mountaineering. In 1954 he returned to his native Scotland to work for five years as a senior research fellow in Geography at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

. Whilst there he started to write his book ''The Polar World'' which was later published in 1964. In 1959 he returned to Canada as director of the Gault Estate of

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, a 2,600-acre property at Mont-St-Hilaire, Quebec, and as supervisor of Northern Field Studies in the Department of Geography. In 1952 he was awarded the Founder's Medal of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

for "his explorations in the Canadian Arctic". Other awards included the Bruce Memorial Medal of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

and a

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du couronnement de la Reine Élizabeth II) is a commemorative medal instituted to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. Award This medal was awarded a ...

. He died in Ottawa in 1984. He had married twice, to Gillian Margaret Warren, with whom he had a son and three daughters and to Geneva Adair Jackson of Montreal. The

Baird Peninsula Baird Peninsula is a peninsula in west central Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It juts into the Foxe Basin past Longstaff Bluff. Prince Charles Island lies to the south. It is named in honor of the Scottish Scottish ...

of Baffin Island is named after him.

References

1912 births 1984 deaths Scottish explorers 20th-century British scientists British glaciologists People from Caithness People educated at Edinburgh Academy Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge British expatriates in Canada {{glaciologist-stub

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