During World War II Brown was a research engineer for the Sylvania Electric Products Company. From 1947 to 1970 he chaired the Physics Department and later served as vice president for administration at Walla Walla College in Washington. He became director of the Geoscience Research Institute after a few years at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. Since retirement in 1980 he has continued research in radioactive dating methods and has been published on topics related to creation and evolution. His Ph.D. in physics is from the University of Washington.