John Knox graduated from the University of Toronto in 1939 with a BA in Mathematics and Physics. Knox then received a MA in Physics (Meteorology) from Toronto in 1948. For 35 years, he was a meteorologist and senior administrator with the Meteorological Branch, Canada Department of Transport, and Atmospheric Environment Service. After taking early retirement from the federal civil service, he obtained a Ph.D. from UBC in 1981. He spent two decades as a climate scientist and meteorological consultant. His research focused on reinterpreting twentieth-century weather and climate data to deepen understanding of large-scale atmospheric phenomena. His work includes a doctoral thesis and several papers on atmospheric blocking in the Northern Hemisphere and publications on extended-range and analogue forecasting, climate trends and variability, Prairie drought patterns, the climate of the Red River Basin and Pacific Ocean precipitation.