Ragone studied metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1951 and a Master of Science degree in 1952.
He specialized in the fields of thermodynamics, chemical engineering, and metallurgy.
His research involved material investigations for the development of a gas-cooled nuclear reactor.
In 1988, he moved back to his alma mater, MIT, where he taught thermodynamics and physical chemistry until 1998.
Ragone died in Hingham, Massachusetts on March 20, 2023, at the age of 92.