Beatrice Tinsley was born in 1941 in England and grew up in Christchurch and New Plymouth. She attended the University of Canterbury, completing a BSc and then a Master of Science with First Class Honours in Physics in 1961.  After moving to the United States, she gained a PhD at the University of Texas in Austin in 1966. Her thesis "Evolution of Galaxies and its Significance for Cosmology", was described as "extraordinary and profound" by her professors. This work on how the evolution of galaxies affects the origin and size of the universe had a profound effect on scientific knowledge, forming the basis for contemporary studies of galactic evolution. She spent most of the remainder of her short scientific career at Yale University where she became a professor of astronomy. Beatrice Tinsley died of cancer on 23 March 1981.