Born in Aberdeen in 1927, Malcom Slessor studied chemical engineering at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating he went on to have a career as an academic and also worked in the private sector.

With a keen interest in mountaineering and exploration Slessor participated in the ground-breaking British North Greenland Expedition from 1952 to 1953 as an assistant physicist and surveyor. He later co-led an expedition to the Pamirs region of Central Asia, chronicling the experience in a book he authored. As well as writing many papers in a professional capacity he also wrote about experiences of mountaineering and Scotland. Slessor died from a suspected heart attack while walking in the Scottish Highlands in 2007.

John Potter Masterton (known as Jock) was born in 1928. Having recently qualified as a surgeon Masterton participated in the pioneering British North Greenland Expedition from 1952 to 1954 as the expedition's medical officer. The expedition involved a team of over 20 men spending 2 years exploring the north Greenland ice sheet and included pioneering and important research in the fields of glaciology, geology, metrology, gravimetry, physiology and polar logistics. Working alongside another doctor Masterton looked after the medical needs of the party as well as undertaking physiological studies, which would later form the basis of published research.

Masterton went on to have a successful academic and medical career. In the 1960s he emigrated to Australia and joined Monash University in 1963, publishing on surgery and burns alongside working in surgery and with medical students. In 1967 he was instrumental in the establishment of the Victorian Burns Unit at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne and was its director for 28 years until his retirement. In 1991 he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the treatment of burns and Australian Antarctic expeditions.

Commander Cortlandt James Woore (known as Jim) Simpson was born in 1911. His grandfather had previously served in the Royal Navy, and Simpson initially followed career path. In 1936 Simpson left the Navy to study electrical engineering at the University of London. In 1939 he re-joined the navy and served as an Electrical Officer during World War Two, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1945.

In 1951 Simpson, still a naval officer, led a preparatory expedition to North Greenland ahead of the British North Greenland Expedition, he established a location for the landing of the full expedition which was to follow, and a location for the expedition's main base. In 1952 he returned as the leader of the British North Greenland Expedition. The expedition consisted of members of all three branches of the British military and several academic researchers. The expedition, led by Simpson, lasted 2 years, and acted as a test bed and exemplar for British polar research capabilities. The expedition undertook research in a broad range of areas including glaciology, seismology, human physiology, polar logistics and radio communications. The expedition was largely successful, though did suffer one fatality, Captain Hans A. Jenson who died following an accident, and several near misses including small fires and breakdowns in equipment, particularly the tracked Weasel vehicles which were employed for travelling across the ice. Following the expedition the whole team was awarded the Polar Medal, and in 1956 Simpson was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), before retiring from the Navy in 1961.

William Stanley Bryce Paterson, known as Stan, was a leading British glaciologist. After graduating in Mathematics and Physics in 1949, and while working as a lecturer, he joined the British North Greenland Expedition which ran from 1952 to 1954. The expedition was one of the first major expeditions to North Greenland and had a broad range of objectives in the fields of glaciogoly, geology, seismology, as well as being a test-bed for the logistics and communications involved in long-term polar exploration and research. Paterson joined the 2nd year of the expedition as part of the team which measured altitudes on the Greenland Ice Sheet. He participated in another expedition to South Georgia in 1956, where Mount Paterson is named after him.

In 1957 he emmigrated to Canada, where he continued his research and academic interest in glaciology which included further field work and wrote The Physics of Glaciers, a key text in the field, published in 1969. He continued to be a leading academic in the discipline, receiving the International Glaciological Society's Richardson Medal for Outstanding Services to Glaciology in 2012.

Michael Banks, born in Chippenham, Wiltshire on 22nd December 1922, was a member of the Royal Marines, noted explorer and author. Banks joined the Royal Marines in 1942, which he remained a member of until his retirement in 1968. In 1952 he joined the North British Greenland Expedition, a British led 2 year expedition which aimed to explore and carry out a range of scientific studies on the North Greenland Icesheet. A senior member of the expedition, Banks led one of the teams which traversed the ice sheet using Weasel tracked military vehicles.

On returning from the expedition Banks wrote and published High Arctic: the Story of the British North Greenland Expedition which cronicled and critiqued the expedition. Banks was also able to undertake further exploration and climbing exploits during, and after, his military career. This included leading an expedition which made the first summit of the Himilayan mountain Rakaposhi, and in 2000 at the age of 77 became the oldest person to successfully climb the Old Man of Hoy.