during the summer of 1935, kimball returned to princeton, to work with henry eyring. after a year when kimball taught physics at hunter college, he became assistant professor at the chemistry department of columbia university. one of his students during his early time at columbia was isaac asimov, who remembered getting a zero from him in physical chemistry. during the years 1936–1941, kimball published nine papers on reaction rates and electrochemical surface effects. he also developed and taught courses in quantum chemistry, and supervised graduate student research. in 1941 he was elected a fellow of the american physical society. the book "quantum chemistry" written by kimball, henry eyring and john walter, was begun around 1934 and published in 1944. although periodically occupied with other tasks from 1942, he became a full professor of chemistry at columbia in 1947 and remained there until 1956.