Roger Angel received his D. Phil. from Oxford University, and his M.S. from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to his appointment at the University of Arizona in 1973, Angel was an associate professor at Columbia University.

He was a MacArthur Fellow from 1996 to 2001, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the American Academy of Arts and Science and of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences.