He coauthored with Sarvajit Singh, "Seismic Waves and Sources: the mathematical theory of seismology", a pioneering treatise since the nascent of this discipline at the turn of the 20th century.
In his doctoral thesis he pioneered the birth of modern seismic-source elastodynamics based on his theory of wave radiation from a finite rupturing fault with subshear or supershear velocity.
His theory was confirmed through the observed asymmetric radiation of long-period surface-waves from the great Chilean earthquake of May 22, 1960, where he introduced the fundamental concepts of 'Directivity' and 'Potency' from which the moment tensor is derived.
In 1975, Ben-Menahem used seismic and barometric recording of the Tunguska event of June 30, 1908, to derive the height and energy of the explosion, demonstrating for the first time a feasible non-cometary mechanism of this extraterrestrial bolide encounter with earth.
Ben-Menahem is the sole author of a 6-volume, 6000 pages treatise: Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences published in 2009 by Springer Verlag.