He was a professor at Tokyo Imperial University, a researcher at RIKEN, and worked on a wide range of topics in physics.

While in high school in Kumamoto, the young Torahiko studied under Natsume Sōseki and science teacher Takuro Tamaru.

It was the influence of both men whom Terada attributed his inspiration to seriously pursue studies of science and literature during the course of his life.

Finally in 1908, Terada obtained his Doctor of Science Degree and was elected to the position of an associate professor at Tokyo Imperial University.

[clarification needed] In 1911, Terada made the trek back home to Japan by way of Paris, the UK and the United States.

Inspired by the work of Max von Laue, Terada devised a technique for greatly accelerating the photography process used for data gathering in these studies.

However, Terada failed to get his results sent to Nature in time due to the distance of Japan from the publisher's location.

His research continued to develop and gain attention, and in 1928 he was elected as one of senior staff of Japan's Imperial Academy.