In the 1970s, he used infrared spectroscopy to demonstrate that what was thought to be a newly discovered form of water,
polywater, was structurally similar to human sweat and not, as he had initially speculated, "the long-awaited fountain of youth" with "immortal properties." This result suggested that the novel properties of
polywater were due to contamination from biological impurities. No doubt disappointed that polywater was not the elixir of life he had hoped, he later described
polywater as an example of
pathological science, an incorrect usage of that term. He is also a pioneer in using
resonance Raman spectroscopy to study
heme proteins, notably
hemoglobin,
cytochrome c oxidase,
nitric oxide synthase, and the
folding of
cytochrome c. ==Significant publications==