Ogden Richardson Lindsley was born in Providence, Rhode Island August 11, 1922. While still a student at Brown University he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in January 1942.

Lindsley was a Tech. Sergeant serving in the 15th AF 98th Bombardment Group as a flight engineer on a B-24 Liberator when his plane went down in the mountains of Albania, July 22, 1944.

He and fellow crew members were captured by the Germans on his 22nd birthday, and moved through camps in Yugoslavia to Stalag Luft IV in Danzig. On a forced march from Danzig to Hamburg in April 1945, he escaped.

After returning home, Lindsley re-entered Brown to complete his bachelor of arts degree and a Sc.M. in experimental psychology. He received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard in 1957 under the direction of B.F. Skinner.

After spending years in research at Harvard and other institutions, Lindsley joined the faculty of the University of Kansas Medical Center as Full Professor, Director of educational research, and research associate. He retired as a professor of special education in 1990and continued to be active as an author, speaker and advocate of the Standard Celeration Chart and Precision Teaching.