He then received a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge where he worked in the Cavendish Laboratory under the direction of Ernest Rutherford.

In 1924 Pontremoli founded an institute of advanced physics at the University of Milan, which he continued to direct until his disappearance in 1928.

Along with the Czech physicist František Běhounek, Pontremoli was responsible for taking measurements of the Earth's magnetic field and cosmic rays; most of the data they gathered were lost in the subsequent crash.

On 25 May 1928, while attempting to return to its base at Ny-Ålesund, Spitzbergen from the North Pole, the airship crash-landed on the ice.

The force of the impact smashed open the control cabin leaving one dead and nine living members of the crew on the ice.