[1][2][3] He was Director of the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory (now the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit) in Cambridge, UK, from its foundation in 1927 until his retirement in 1963.
He was educated at Liverpool College and Manchester University where he studied science.
Harris was a research student under Cambridge biochemist Frederick Gowland Hopkins.
In 1927 Harris was chosen as Director of the newly founded Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, a joint undertaking of the University of Cambridge and the Medical research council.
[9] During and after World War II, Harris advised the British government on nutrition, directing work in methods of preserving foods without loss of vitamins, and ensuring that rations supplied adequate vitamin levels.