James Harris was a chemist who was part of an American team of researchers that discovered the elements 104 and 105, the first African-American to do so in the capacity. Harris, who attended Texas HBCU Huston-Tillotson University (HTU), was also the only member of his team to not have a doctorate degree.
James Andrew Harris was born March 26, 1932 in Waco, Texas but was raised primarily in Oakland, California. He entered HTU where he met his wife, Helen. They had five children together. Harris began working as a radio-chemist before joining the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at University of California-Berkeley. While at Lawrence, Harris helped discover element 104, known as rutherfordium, and element 105, known as dubnium. (READ MORE)
