His father, James Adolphus Linsley, was born in Morris, Minnesota, and worked for the Minneapolis Transit Company as a streetcar conductor.

His mother, Martha Carolina Linsley, was born in Follinge, Sweden, and was a graduate of the University of Minnesota.

[2][3] Linsley was homeschooled by his mother for much of his childhood and graduated from Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis in 1941.

[2] After completing his undergraduate education, Linsley remained at the University of Minnesota to work on his Ph.D. under the direction of Edward P.

Linsley worked with Livio Scarsi from the University of Milan to build an array of nineteen plastic scintillation detectors at Volcano Ranch near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In 1973, Linsley created a denser array at Volcano Ranch to study the lateral distribution of air showers.

[2] After the closing of Volcano Ranch, Linsley continued his work in the field of cosmic rays.

[2] Linsley was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics by Pierre Auger in 1980 for his work with cosmic rays.