Ben Mayer (1925-1999) was born in Germany and later immigrated to England where he attended the All-Saints School of Art in Manchester and the Royal College of Art in London. In 1949, he moved to Los Angeles where he remained for the rest of his life. He soon started his own business, Ben Mayer Design, Inc., which provided original artworks for theaters, casinos, and other public buildings.

In his later years, Mayer was drawn into the world of astronomy. Eventually, he turned his design business over to his son and devoted himself to exploring the stars. In 1975, Mayer became the first person to photograph a nova (star explosion) from beginning to end. Over the next two decades he published several books on astronomy, including The Cambridge Astronomy Guide with co-author William Liller. Mayer also patented a number of astrophotography devices, several of which became widely used around the world. In 1982 he was awarded “amateur of the year” by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He later donated his photography equipment to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.