Stereo Chemistry revisited: 'Wicked amazing scientist' James Harris's untold story

About this episode

This episode explores the untold story of James Harris, the first Black scientist to codiscover an element, through archival research and personal accounts.

Little was publicly known about the first Black scientist to codiscover an element. Chemists may know James Harris as the first Black scientist to be credited with codiscovering an element. In fact, we referenced this in a previous episode of Stereo Chemistry about making superheavy elements. But beyond this memorable factoid, details about this accomplished nuclear chemist are scarce, and most sources repeat the same superficial information. Kristen Frederick-Frost, curator of modern science at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, wants to change that. After discovering that the museum's database lacked material on Harris, she scoured archival records and sought out former colleagues, friends, and family members to fill in details of his life and career. In this bonus episode of Stereo Chemistry, host Kerri Jansen and special guest Darryl Boyd join Frederick-Frost to explore Harris's story beyond the discoveries that made him famous. And we even get an unexpected peek into his lab, courtesy of the US National Archives. Boyd, a polymer chemist, previously researched James Harris while writing a short article for C&EN's " Black Chemists You Should Know About. "…

People in this episode

Host: Kerri Jansen

Guests: Kristen Frederick-Frost, Darryl Boyd

Topics covered

• James Harris
• nuclear chemistry
• Black scientists
• scientific history
• archival research

Keywords

• James Harris
• nuclear chemist
• Black scientists
• element discovery
• archival research

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, C&EN, US National Archives

Books & works: Black Chemists You Should Know About, If You Want to Change the Element, You Have to Change the Nucleus, Ebony magazine profile about James Harris

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