Tom Van Flandern received his Ph.D. degree in Astronomy from Yale University. He spent 20 years at the U.S. Naval Observatory, where he became the Chief of the Celestial Mechanics Branch. In 1991, Tom formed Meta Research, to foster research into ideas not otherwise supported solely because they conflict with mainstream theories in Astronomy and he is also the editor of the Meta Research Bulletin.
During the past few years, he has been a Research Associate at the University of Maryland Physics Department and a consultant to the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD, working on improving the accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS). In addition, Tom organizes the Eclipse Edge Expeditions to optimal solar eclipse viewing sites. He has been honored by a prize from the Gravity Research Foundation; served on the Council of American Astronomical Society's Division on Dynamical Astronomy; taught astronomy at the University of South Florida and to Navy Department employees; and been a consultant to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.