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