Often considered the "father of neuroendocrinology",[1] he is best known for showing that the anterior pituitary is regulated by the hypothalamus via the hypophyseal portal system.
His work established the principles for the 1977 Nobel Prize-winning discovery of hypothalamic hormones by Schally and Guillemin.
Harris received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge in 1936, and went on to attend medical training at St. Mary's Hospital in London until 1939.
[2] In the late 1940s, Harris' early research showed the hypothalamus, but not the pituitary directly, could be electrically stimulated and led to ovulation in rabbits.
[2][1] Andrew Schally and Roger Guillemin ultimately shared the Nobel Prize for the structure and function of GnRH in 1977, after Harris' death in 1971.