During World War II, he was involved in the development of guided missiles as well as with military applications of infrared radiation.
In collaboration with George R. Harrison and J.R. Loofbourow, Lord published the widely used text Practical Spectroscopy in 1948.
His studies of the laser Raman spectroscopy of proteins and nucleic acids opened a new field of research.
[citation needed] Lord was awarded the President's Certificate of Merit in 1948 by Harry S. Truman in recognition of his work during WWII.
[4] Lord served as a consultant to the Central Research Department of DuPont between 1948 and 1980, and as editor in the field of optics for the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology.