Charles B. Harris was born in
New York City and spent most of his youth in
Grosse Pointe. He attended the
University of Michigan and received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1963. In 1966, he received his Ph.D. in chemistry at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology under
F. Albert Cotton. His doctoral research included the determination of the crystal structure of
potassium octachlorodirhenate, which led to its identification as the first substance shown to have a
quadruple bond. In 1967, Harris went to the
University of California, Berkeley, where he became a professor in the chemistry department. He headed this department from 2003 and was dean of the faculty from 2004 to 2007. In 2015, he retired. His research focus was in the field of ultrafast dynamics and electron dynamics as well as the dynamics of chemical reactions in liquids. He educated multiple generations of scientists in chemical dynamics and ultrafast science who have since become leaders in the field including, as Ph.D. students,
Paul Alivisatos,
Michael D. Fayer,
Roseanne Sension, Nien-hui Ge, Kelly Gaffney and as postdocs,
Ahmed Zewail and
Alan Campion. ==Honors and awards==