He completed his doctorate just about a year before Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Pierre Curie, and Gustave Bémont announced (November 1898 in Paris) their discovery of radium.
Seizing an opportunity to popularize a new scientific phenomenon, as early as 1904 Foley was giving spectacular public demonstrations of radiation from radium.
In 1917, he became the first recipient of a professorship in the Luther Dana Waterman Institute for Research at Indiana University, where he studied acoustic phenomena.
[8] Foley worked on theories of sound amplification, leading to patents for the ideal shapes of horns for musical instruments.
Arthur Lee Foley, Rolla Roy Ramsey, Albert Fredrick Ottomar Germann, and Ross Franklin Lockridge, Sr. were among the alumni elected in 1911.
He was architect and superintendent of construction for two power plants and connecting tunnels to supply steam, electricity, and telephone service to the new buildings.