William "Bill" Snoddy was born in Russellville, Alabama. Snoddy was a senior in physics at the University of Alabama when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik—the world's first artificial satellite—in October 1957; as a physics student, Snoddy understood the incredible magnitude of the launch. After graduating a few months later, Snoddy joined the von Braun team in Huntsville and remained a member until his retirement 37 years later.

Early in his professional career, Snoddy worked on the thermal design of the early satellites. At Gerhard Heller’s prompting, Snoddy performed calculations to determine why Explorer I was 30 degrees cooler than it should have been. Snoddy determined that Explorer I was cooler because it rotated in a different way than expected, causing energy to be dissipated.

Later on, Snoddy worked on various thermal-related issues for Apollo; he served as Chief of the Astronomy and Solid State Physics Division and Chief of the Solar-Terrestrial Physics Division; he helped study Comet Kohoutek and worked with solar physicists to develop monographs on the Sun with the Skylab Program, serving as Manager of the Skylab/ATM Data Analysis Program.

Snoddy had a one-year assignment to NASA Headquarters in Washington as Planner for Solar Terrestrial Physics and Manager of the Science and Applications Space Platform study activity (this concept lost out to the current International Space Station in orbit), a job he continued upon his return to Huntsville. After that, he served as Deputy Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Space Science Laboratory, Deputy Director of the Program Development Directorate (future projects office), and the MSFC lead in Space Commercialization.

Snoddy retired in 1994. Snoddy was part of a small group who went to Russia to observe its formerly-secret biosphere.

The above is adapted from a biography on Snoddy found here.