He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo in 1976. Upon enrollment, at age 15, he was the youngest student ever to attend UW. In 2009 he enrolled in the Doctor of Philosophy program (history of astronomy) at James Cook University in Australia.
In 1991 he earned his Bachelor in Classical Studies. Foreign his book Introduction to Asteroids (1988) and development of The Minor Planet Index to Scientific Papers (currently on the small bodies node of the Planetary Data System managed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration), an asteroid was named in his honour. Asteroid 4276 was named Clifford.
He is a contributing editor to Mercury magazine (since 2001), and a contributor to The Astronomical Calendar (1988-2013).
In 2013 he became affiliated with NARIT, the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand. In 2016 he was appointed associate editor of the Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage, and in 2014 a contributor to Encyclopædia Britannica.
He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in the history of astronomy at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia in 2015. After years of research, Doctor Cunningham finally discovered who actually coined the word "asteroid".
In 2014 he discovered a previously unrecognised allusion to the aurora borealis in Milton"s Paradise Lost.
