In 1929 he received a Diploma in Education then won a research scholarship which resulted in a further degree (MSc) and doctorate (PhD) from the University of Wales in 1932.
From 1932 to 1934 (under a Fellowship from the University of Wales) he did further research at the Davy Faraday Laboratory at the Royal Institution in London under the Sir William Lawrence Bragg.
[2] During the Second World War he worked on rocketry technology for the Ministry of Supply, based at the Projectile Development Establishment at Aberporth on the Welsh coast.
[3] The University of Dundee Museum Services hold a collection of Iball's original diagrams and electron density maps.
While in Dundee, Iball set up the Tayside and Fife Branch of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and offered assistance to local industries with any scientific matters.