[12] Moving from MIT to Berkeley he wrote two papers[3][4] in which he predicted what later became known as 'Ericson fluctuations' and today is considered a prime example of quantum chaos.

However, the prediction stimulated in a large number of nuclear reaction studies, as reviewed a few years later with Mayer-Kuckuk,[14] and Ericson continued to develop the consequences in depth in a series of articles.

[1][15][17] The conference series, later generally referred to as PANIC, was the start of the field interfacing nuclear and particle physics and has developed into a triennial event.

In this context Ericson studied how nuclei and particles manifest dielectric constants and magnetic susceptibilities in external fields.

Together with J. Bernabeu and C. Jarlskog, he realized that neutral currents imply parity violations, which are strongly enhanced in certain muonic atoms.

[22] The activity on the interface between nuclear and particle physics led to that CERN set up various scientific committees,[23] in which Ericson was deeply involved.

In his role as chairman of the Nuclear Structure Committee, Ericson proposed in 1964, to build an on-line isotope separator, which later has become known as ISOLDE.

[24][25][26] CERN eventually established its ultrarelativistic heavy-ion programme[27] that over the years has attracted a large number of experimental physicists to the laboratory.