Member of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: December 19, 1983
• Invested on: April 11, 1984

In the course of a long career at McGill, Dr. Nicholls pioneered in the teaching of polymer chemistry and helped to found the Quebec Rubber and Plastics Group and the Chemical Institute of Canada. His other life, equally energetic, has been as a founder of the Canadian Railroad Historical Society which acquired old locomotives for a railway and tramway museum near Montreal. In 1980 he was chosen first president of the Canadian Council for Railway Heritage.