John Moore grew up in the foothills of Western North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where he received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He earned his master’s degree in chemistry from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. After a stint in the United States Army, he decided to try his hand at teaching. In 1971, he joined the chemistry faculty of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he still teaches chemistry. In 1985 he started back to school part time and in 1991 received his doctorate in education from Texas A&M University. For the last five years has been the co-editor (along with one of his former students) of the “Chemistry for Kids” feature of The Journal of Chemical Education. In 2003, his first book, Chemistry For Dummies, was published, soon to be followed by Chemistry Made Simple. John enjoys cooking and making custom knife handles from exotic woods.

Richard Langley grew up in southwestern Ohio. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he received bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and mineralogy and then a master’s degree in chemistry. His next stop was the University of Nebraska, where he received his doctorate in chemistry. Afterwards, he took a postdoctoral position at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, followed by a visiting assistant professor position at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. In 1982, he moved to Stephen F. Austin State University. For the past several years, he and John have been graders for the Free Response portion of the AP Chemistry Exam. He and John have collaborated on several writing projects, including 5 Steps To A 5 on the AP: Chemistry and Chemistry for the Utterly Confused. Rich enjoys jewelry making and science fiction.