Education
A native of Hertfordshire, Goody attended Cambridge University, from which he received a bachelor"s degree in physics in 1942. He then worked at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment until October 1946, when he returned to Cambridge to receive his Doctor of Philosophy, doing so in 1949. While there, he was instructed to build an infrared spectrometer for use in an airplane to measure stratospheric dryness.
He also made important discoveries into the structure of the stratosphere during this time, which led him to study radiative transfer in planetary atmospheres.
Career
He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1970. He became a United States citizen in 1965. His 1964 book "Atmospheric Radiation" has been described as "classic".
In 1965, Goody advised Richard Lindzen on his Doctor of Philosophy. Goody has since said that Lindzen "..loves debating.
He absorbs an enormous amount of information, and he loves arguing with you about lieutenant" He served as the director of the Blue Hill Observatory until 1970, and the chair of the Space Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences from 1974 to 1976. In 1970, Goody was the co-chair of a National Academy of Sciences study of Venus entitled "Venus: Strategy for Exploration", and he was partly responsible for launching the Pioneer Venus project, which launched probes to Venus in 1978.
He underwent compulsory retirement from Harvard in 1991.
Membership
American Philosophical Society. National Academy of Sciences.
