Scottish geologist, naturalist, and military officer who emigrated to Canada. And was later a member of the Arctic Institute of North America. Pat Baird first travelled to Canada on an expedition to Baffin island, subsequently joining the Arctic expedition of Tom Manning (1936) as geologist and botanist and returning there many times.

He joined the army during the Second World War and subsequently participated in the Lemming and Muskox military exercises (1945-1946) in the Canadian northwest Peninsula, the latter involving the first vehicular journey of 3,400 miles across the Arctic, that he led without loss of vehicles or men. He was appointed chief of the Arctic Section of the Canadian Defence Research Board befoer becoming director of the Arctic Institute of North America in Montreal (1947-1954).

Baird led the Baffin Island Expedition (1950), sometimes referred to as the Baird Expedition, and another to the Penny Highland (1953). He returned to Scotland for a few years and was elected president of the Arctic Club (1955). Returning to Canada, he joined the Department of Geography of McGill University (1959-1969) as director of the Gault Estate and supervisor of the Centre for Northern Studies and Research including the Schefferville Subarctic Research Station in northern Québec. Baird Peninsula on Baffin Island is named after him.