Harrison's education at Sir John Cass Technical Institute was interrupted by World War II, during which he served for six years with the British Army in various military campaigns, eventually serving as Radar Adviser to the Northern Area of the (British) Egyptian Army.

During this time he attained the equivalent of university degrees,[1] becoming a graduate, then an Associate, and finally a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

[4] In 1965, Ted Harrison went to the US as a NAS-NRC[1] Senior Research Associate at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, in Maryland.

[5] Harrison was fascinated with Olbers's paradox (the night sky is dark despite the vast number of stars in the universe).

In 1964, he published detailed calculations that solved the paradox by concluding that stars do not generate enough energy to illuminate the entire sky.