[1] He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo; upon enrollment, at age 15, he was the youngest student ever to attend UW.
[1] His work after graduation included astronomical observations at Lowell Observatory; studies in the microbiology department of the University of Guelph; software analysis for Computing Canada; and senior writer in multimedia for the Ontario Lottery Corporation.
In 2016 he was appointed an associate editor of the Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage, and in 2014 a contributor to Encyclopædia Britannica.
He is now a Research Fellow at USQ, and became one of three Series Editors of Historical and Cultural Astronomy books for Springer in June 2019.
In 1990, the Mars-crossing asteroid 4276 Clifford, discovered by American astronomer Edward Bowell in 1981, was named in his honor.