[1] His father, William Campbell (1891–1968), was a pharmacist and doctor; his mother, Anne Fleming (1898–1984) was her future husband's counter assistant before taking care of their four children.
As a child, Campbell was an avid reader and, encouraged by his teachers and father, had hobbies in chemistry, physics, optics, photography, electricity, and radio.
[1] After graduating, Campbell prepared to become an ophthalmologist, passing the Diploma of Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1948.
[1] But Campbell became more interested in research than in clinical practice, completing a PhD (on corneal wound healing) from Glasgow University in 1952, then an MD (on the depth of focus of the eye) in 1959.
[2] According to Neurotree, Campbell supervised one research assistant, four PhD students (David C. Burr, Denis Pelli, John G. Robson, and Roger Carpenter), and seven post-doctoral fellows (including Colin Blakemore, Robert Shapley, and Gordon Legge).
Between 1960 and 1962, Campbell served on the General Optical Council of the UK National Health Service, representing educational interests for optometry.