What Can I Learn From James Andrew Harris

James A. Harris

(1932-2000)

Nuclear Chemist

James A. Harris

James A. Harris was an essential member of the team at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory that produced two previously unknown elements—Chemical element 105, created in 1969, and Element 105, detected in 1970. The outset African American scientist to play a key role in the search for new elements, he was once described by a writer for Ebony magazine as a "hip, scientific soul brother."

Harris was built-in in Waco, Texas, in 1932 and raised by his mother afterwards his parents divorced. He left Waco to nourish high school in Oakland, California, merely returned to Texas to report science at Huston-Tillotson College in Austin. After earning a B.S. in chemistry in 1953 and serving in the Army, he confronted the difficulties of finding a chore as a blackness scientist in the Jim Crow era.

"I could write a book about my task-hunting experiences," he said. Receptionists for some potential employers were incredulous that he was applying for a job in chemistry rather than as a janitor. A number of interviewers couldn't hide their stupor when they met him. Merely he persisted in his search and landed employment in 1955 at Tracerlab, a commercial enquiry laboratory in Richmond, California. 5 years subsequently he accustomed a position at the Lawrence Radiation Lab (later renamed Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory), a facility of the Section of Energy operated past the University of California.

In that location he worked in the Nuclear Chemistry Partitioning every bit head of the Heavy Isotopes Production Group. His responsibility was to purify and fix the atomic target materials that would be bombarded with carbon, nitrogen, or other atoms in an accelerator in an endeavour to create new elements. The purification process was extremely difficult, and Harris was highly regarded for his meticulous work in producing targets of superb quality.

After the discoveries of Elements 104 and 105—named, respectively, Rutherfordium and Hahnium, afterwards atomic pioneers Ernest Rutherford and George Hahn—Harris'due south team continued to search for other super-heavy elements that might evidence beneficial to medicine, energy production, or other purposes.

Harris extended his scientific grooming with graduate courses in chemical science and physics and received an honorary doctorate from Houston-Tillotson College for his contributions to the discovery of new elements. He devoted much of his gratuitous time to recruiting and supporting immature African American scientists and engineers, often visiting universities in other states. He too worked with elementary-school students, peculiarly in underrepresented communities, to encourage their interest in science. These efforts brought him many awards from civic and professional person organizations, including the Urban League and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemic Engineers.

Married and the father of five children, Harris was devoted to his family and counterbalanced his professional work with other pastimes, including golf, travel, and community activities.

Links to Additional Information

Memorial from Berkeley Lab Currents, Jan. 26. 2001