 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 PhD, doing so in 1949.While there, he was instructed to build an infrared spectrometer for use in an airplane to measure stratospheric dryness.