J. Ward Moody was a professor of astronomy at Brigham Young University when this was written. Moody received his bachelor’s degree in physics from BYU and his PhD in astronomy from the University of Michigan. His advisor at the University of Michigan was Robert Kirsher. He then did postdoctoral research at The Institute for Astronomy at the University of New Mexico where, among other things, he worked with Stephen A. Gregory and Jack Burns. Following this, Moody was a professor of astronomy at Weber State University until he joined the BYU faculty as a professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department in 1990.

Among other endeavors, Moody has been involved in The KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey. He wrote the textbook Physical Science Foundations. He also discovered a carbon star with Stephen A. Gregory, Michael S. Soukup, and Eric C. Jaderlund.