[3][5] Tanada said he was rejected when he initially tried to join the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but was drafted later in part due to being fluent in Japanese.
[5] He translated top-secret Japanese communications for the Military Intelligence Service and was promoted to technical sergeant.
[3] Tanada was assigned to the United States Department of Agriculture, where he published works related to the effects of red and far-red light on plant roots.
The photomorphogenic processes he discovered in relation to light spectrum on plant root adhesion became known as the Tanada effect.
[6] He later discovered that the electric charge causing roots to stick to glass is generated by the trace element boron.