[1][2][3] He was particularly well known for his work on electromagnetic phenomenon, fine grained pressure and salinity measurements in the ocean depths and surface.
He received a bachelor's degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1944, where he learned quantum mechanics from Linus Pauling and worked as a draftsman for William Alfred Fowler at the Kellogg Radiation Lab at Caltech on rocket development for the Navy.
As a graduate student, he purchased a 110 ft Navy reconnaissance vessel, made surplus after World War II, and he worked as a commercial fisherman for albacore, operating this boat designed for a crew of five typically with just a single associate.
He continued to actively research and write, including a paper on the history of oil being used to calm dangerously breaking waves, published just a few months before his death.
[5] Cox did early work on using light scattering to study properties of the sea surface with Walter Munk.