John B MacChesney earned a BA degree in chemistry from Bowdoin College in 1951. He served in the US Army during the Korean War, and later studied at City College of New York and New York University while working in New York City. He ultimately earned the PhD in geochemistry in 1959 from Pennsylvania State University. That year, he joined Bell Labs, where he spent his career. There, he invented the Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD) process, for which he has received numerous awards and recognitions. These include the John Tyndall Award from OSA/IEEE, and the Charles Draper Award from the National Academy of Engineers.

MacChesney passed away in 2021.