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Sclater was born at Tangier Park, Wootton St Lawrence, Hampshire, where his father William Lutley Sclater had a country house. George Sclater-Booth, 1st Baron Basing was his elder brother. Philip grew up at Hoddington House where he took an early interest in birds. He was educated in school at Twyford, Winchester College and Corpus Christi, Oxford, where he studied scientific ornithology. In 1851 he began to study law and was admitted as a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. In 1856 he travelled to America and visited Lake Superior and the upper St. Croix River. Sclater wrote about this in his 'Illustrated Travels'. In Philadelphia he met Spencer Baird, John Cassin and Joseph Leidy at the Academy of Natural Sciences. After returning to England, he practiced law for several years and attended meetings of the Zoological Society of London.

In 1858 Sclater published a paper in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, setting up six zoological regions which he called the Palaeartic, Aethiopina, Indian, Australasian, Neartic and Neotropical, which are still in use. He also developed the theory of Lemuria during 1864 to explain zoological coincidences relating to Madagascar to India.

He was Secretary of the Zoological Society of London for 42 years, from 1860-1902. He was briefly succeeded by his son, before the Council of the Society made a long-term appointment.

In 1874 he became private secretary to his brother George Sclater-Booth, MP. In 1875 he became President of the Biological Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, where he joined in 18447 as a member. He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1873.

Sclater was the founder and editor of 'The Ibis', the journal of the British Ornithologists' Union. His office at 11 Hanover Square became a meeting place for all naturalists in London.

His collection of birds grew to nine thousand and he transferred them to the British Museum in 1886. At around the same time the museum was augmented by the collections of Gould, Salvin and Godman, Hume and others to become the largest in the world.

Among Sclater's books were 'Exotic Ornithology' (1866-1869), 'Nomenclator Avium' (1873), 'Argentine Ornithology' (1888-1889) and 'The Book of Antelopes' (1894-1900).

In June 1901 he received an honorary doctorate of Science from the University of Oxford.

In 1862 he married Jane Eliza Hunter Blair and they had one daughter and four sons. Their eldest son, William Lutley Sclater was also an ornithologist. Philip Sclater is buried in Odiham Cemetery.

Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow, Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809-1811. He then returned to Oxford, graduating in 1815. He practiced as a barrister and became a Doctor of Civil Law in 1832.

He was co-founder of the Zoological Society of London in 1826, and its first Secretary until 1833. In 1833 he founded what became the Royal Entomological Society of London. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Society. He was the author of 40 papers, mostly on ornithology. He described 110 species of birds. He provided the text for John Gould's 'A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains' (1830-1832). One bird that he described was Sabine's Snipe. Vigors lent a skin for later editions of Thomas Bewick's 'History of British Birds'.

Vigors succeeded to his father's estate in 1828. He was MP for the borough of Carlow from 1832 until 1835. He briefly represented the constituency of County Carlow in 1835. Vigors won a by-election in 1837 and retained the seat until his death.

Yarrell was born in Duke Street, St James's in London, to Francis Yarrell and his wife Sarah (nee Blane). His father and uncle ran a newspaper agency and bookshop. He was educated at Dr Nicholson's School in Ealing. In 1802 he became a clerk with the Herries, Farquhar and Co. Bank. In 1803 he and his cousin, Edward Jones, joined his father's business. He acquired the reputation of being the best shot and best angler in London, soon becoming an expert naturalist. He sent many bird specimens to Thomas Bewick, who engraved them as woodcuts.

He joined the Royal Institution in 1817. His first publication was 'On the Occurrence of some Rare British Birds' (1825). This was published in the second volume of the 'Zoological Journal' and he later became one of that journal's editors. He was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1825. He wrote in 1827 on the structure of the tracheae of birds and on plumage changes in pheasants. He corresponded and shared specimens with other naturalists including Thomas Bewick, Sir William Jardine, Prideaux John Selby, Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Jonathan Couch.

Yarrell was one of the original members of the Zoological Society of London. In 1833, he was a founder of what became the Royal Entomological Society of London. He served for many years as treasurer both of the Entomological Society and the Linnean Society. Yarrell's major works were 'A History of British Fishes' (1836) and 'A History of British Birds (1843).

Yarrell died during a trip to Great Yarmouth and a memorial was erected in St James's Church, Piccadilly. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's in Bayford, Hertfordshire.

Yarrell had a number of species names after him, including the birds yellow-faced siskin (Carduelis yarrelli), the Chilean woodstar (Eulidia yarrelli) and the fish Yarrell's blenny (Chirolophis ascanii). The British subspecies of the white wagtail, the pied wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrelli) was also named after him.

Solomon 'Solly' Zuckerman was a British public servant, zoologist and operational research pioneer. He was born in Cape Town in 1904, the second child of Moses and Rebecca Zuckerman (nee Glaser). Both his parents were the children of Jewish immigrants from Russia. He was educated at the South African College School. After studying medicine at the University of Cape Town and later attending Yale University, he went to London in 1926 to complete his studies at the University College Hospital Medical School.

He began his career at the Zoological Society of London in 1928, and worked as a research anatomist until 1932. It was in this period that he founded the intellectual dining club, Tots and Quots. In 1932, he published his work 'Social Life of Monkeys and Apes'.

He taught at the University of Oxford from 1934 to 1945, during which time he was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society.

He was a scientific advisor to the Allies on bombing strategy in the Second World War, for his work to advance the cause of nuclear non-proliferation, and for his role in bringing attention to global economic issues.

Zuckerman married Lady Joan Rufus Isaacs in 1939 and they had two children. He died in London in 1993 following a heart attack.