He made contributions in thermodynamics, aeronautics, geophysics, earthquake engineering, and electromagnetism.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Aeronautical Science from the California Institute of Technology in 1932 under Theodore von Kármán.
After 1969 Biot became a private consultant for various companies and agencies, and particularly for Shell Research and Development.
During the period between 1932 and 1942, he conceived and then fully developed the response spectrum method (RSM) for earthquake engineering.
Biot's interest in the non-linear effects of initial stress and the inelastic behavior of solids led to his mathematical theory of folding of stratified rocks.