His work on coral reefs began in 1947, when, as a student, he became involved with the Bikini Atoll atom bomb test site in the Marshall Islands as a chemist.
As the diver who collected radioactive specimens from the lagoons, he most likely received lethal radiation exposure.
He founded the marine laboratory at Discovery Bay, Jamaica in an abandoned urinal on a fisherman's beach in the early 1960s.
With Nora I. Goreau he did the basic work on the biology and physiology of corals and the role of algal symbiosis in their growth.
Their work showed how coral reefs function and established their great sensitivity to environmental stress.