He also served as a consultant of ballistic problems for Division I of the National Defense Research Committee during World War II.
[1][4] In 1946, Osborn joined Pennsylvania State University as a professor of geochemistry and chairman of the earth sciences department.
[5] Osborn and his students have received international recognition for their research in the field of high temperature reactions as applied to iron and steel technology and to volcanic phenomena.
[3][7] As director, he helped establish the Pennsylvania Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute.
[2] In 1974, Osborn was named as the chairman of the National Research Council's Board on Mineral Resources.
[1][4] He was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1968 for "advances in ceramics, slag, mineral, and steel technologies".