In 1886 he joined the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island as a chemist, where he discovered the Munroe effect, the basis for explosiveshaped charges. In 1892 he became head of the Department of Chemistry at the Columbian University (renamed George Washington University in 1904), where he remained until 1919. In 1919 he became Dean Emeritus of the School of Graduate Studies and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, roles he kept until he died. He wrote over 100 books on explosives and chemistry, and was appointed in 1900 by the Swedish Academy of Science to nominate the candidate for the Nobel Prize in chemistry. He also served as president of the American Chemical Society in 1898 and as a consultant to the United States Geological Survey and the United States Bureau of Mines.
Publications
An Index to the Literature of Explosives (1886)
Lectures on Chemistry and Explosives (1888)
A Primer on Explosives for Coal Miners (1909, 1911)
