His interest in particle physics led him to work with Nobel laureate Carl David Anderson, studying cosmic rays with cloud chambers.

He also attended molecular genetics seminars led by Nobel laureate Max Delbrück;[2]: 20  he would return to this field later.

Glaser completed his doctoral thesis, The Momentum Distribution of Charged Cosmic Ray Particles Near Sea Level, after starting as an instructor at the University of Michigan in 1949.

[2]: 43 While teaching at Michigan, Glaser began to work on experiments that led to the creation of the bubble chamber.

In a cloud chamber, particles pass through gas and collide with metal plates that obscure the scientists' view of the event.

The cloud chamber also needs time to reset between recording events and cannot keep up with accelerators' rate of particle production.

Glaser was then recruited by Nobel laureate Luis Alvarez,[2]: 59  who was working on a hydrogen bubble chamber at the University of California at Berkeley.

He wanted to concentrate on science, and found that as the experiments and equipment grew larger in scale and cost, he was doing more administrative work.

He also anticipated that the ever-more-complex equipment would cause consolidation into fewer sites and would require more travel for physicists working in high-energy physics.

In fact, Cetus was originally formed to utilize his inventions and expertise with its first projects focused on producing higher yielding antibiotic strains as the company then evolved, pioneering the field of biotechnology.

He automated the process of pouring out agar, spreading culture, and counting colonies of cells using a machine he called the dumbwaiter.

His experience automating visual tasks in physics and molecular biology led him to an interest in human vision and how the brain processes what is seen.