Bright started his higher education at
Princeton in 1926, where he received both his bachelor's and master's degree in 1930 and 1931 respectively. He then went to the
California Institute of Technology where he worked with
Linus Pauling on crystal structure determinations and finished his PhD. During this time, he also wrote a textbook with Pauling, called
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, which was published in 1935. This textbook was still in print in the year 2000, some 70 years after its initial publication. In 1934, Bright was elected to the Society of Fellows at Harvard for his work done at the California Institute of Technology. His election meant he had a 3-year junior fellowship at Harvard during which he studied molecular motion and symmetry analysis. In 1936 the Harvard Chemistry department appointed Bright as an assistant professor during his third year of his fellowship. He taught courses in chemistry and quantum mechanics and was promoted to an associate professor with tenure after three years. From 1934 to 1941, Bright, along with Harold Gershinowitz, constructed an automatic infrared spectrometer which was used to measure vibrational absorption spectra of various molecules. After the start of
World War II Bright started research on explosives with the
National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) where he studied shock waves in water. In 1942 an Underwater Explosives Research Laboratory (UERL) was opened at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution which Bright led. The US navy, exasperated by the continual harassment of Nazi U-boats on allied shipping vessels had a strong interest in the UERL and its research with depth charges and other anti-submarine weapons. To facilitate this research, the laboratory acquired an old fishing vessel, the
Reliance, which was fitted to record electronic signals from pressure sensors deep underwater. After the end of the war Bright returned to Harvard. In 1947 Bright and Richard Hughes invented and built a Stark-effect microwave spectrometer which could measure different radio waves and became an important tool in spectroscopy. From 1949 to 1950, Bright took a sabbatical in Oxford during which he mainly worked on his book
Introduction to Scientific Research which was published in 1952. In 1952–1953, during the Korean War, Bright became the Research director and deputy director of the Weapons Evaluation Group (WSEG), where he only stayed for 18 months. He later began accepting assignments in the mid-1960s in Washington during the Vietnam war. In 1955 Bright published a book
Molecular Vibrations along with co-authors J.C Decius and P.C. Cross which discussed infrared and Raman spectra of polyatomic molecules. In 1955 Bright studied the internal rotation of single bonds in molecules using microwave spectroscopy. In 1965 Bright studied the rotational energy transfer in inelastic molecular collisions. In 1970, Bright began to study hydrogen bonding and the structure of hydrogen bonds using low resolution microwave spectroscopy. In 1979, Bright retired and was named an emeritus professor. The E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy was established in 1994 by the American Chemical Society. == Personal life ==