Ronald Anderson was a member of the Society of Jesus, as well as a physicist, and a historian and philosopher of science. Fr. Anderson spent most of his teaching career as a professor at Boston College. Fr. Anderson died in 2007 at age 57, while still a professor at Boston College.

A native of New Zealand, Fr. Anderson studied physics with Girish Joshi at the University of Melbourne and was awarded a Ph.D in Physics in 1979. His thesis dissertation was published as a series of articles on topics touching on Baryonium and multiquark states. Fr. Anderson also studied philosophy with Abner Shimony at Boston University and was awarded a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1991. His dissertation topic was The Ontological Status of Potentials within Classical Mechanics.

Fr. Anderson published articles in physics, philosophy of physics, history of science, and the interface between science and religion.