James Andrew Harris

James Andrew Harris is the first African American to participate in a major new-element identification program with the Heavy Isotopes Production Group, which was part of the Nuclear Chemistry Division at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a co-discoverer of elements 104 (rutherfordium) and 105 (dubnium), and later the head of the Heavy Isotopes Production Group.

Harris was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Houston-Tillotson College in 1973 and two Merit Awards—one from the Mayor of Richmond, CA, and the other from the National Urban League.