Leslie Julius Harris (1898-1973) was a British biochemist and nutritionist. He was Director of the

Dunn Nutritional Laboratory The MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit (formerly the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit) is a department of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge, funded through a strategic partnership between the Medical Research Council and th ...

(now the

MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit The MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit (formerly the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit) is a department of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge, funded through a strategic partnership between the Medical Research Council and th ...

) in Cambridge, UK, from its foundation in 1927 until his retirement in 1963. He was instrumental in setting up the (British
Nutrition Society
and th
International Union of Nutrition Societies
His research focused primarily on

vitamin A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its ...

s, including developing the saturation test for assessing vitamin C levels in a urine sample, and showing that vitamins A and D are harmful in excess.

Education and early life

Harris was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, the second son of pacifist rabbi John Solomon Harris. He was educated at

Liverpool College Liverpool College is a school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' Conference (HMC). History Liverpool College was the first of many public schools founded in the Victorian E ...

and

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

where he studied science.

Career and research

Harris was a research student under Cambridge biochemist

Frederick Gowland Hopkins Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (20 June 1861 – 16 May 1947) was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins, even though Casimir Funk, a Po ...

. His Ph.D thesis (1923) was ''Titration of amino- and carboxyl- groups in amino-acids.'' In 1927 Harris was chosen as Director of the newly founded

, a joint undertaking of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and the Medical research council. His work at the Dunn concentrated on studies of the effects of deficiency and excess of vitamins A, B, C, and D in animals and humans, and the effects of preserving food on its dietary value. Harris’ research included the saturation test for assessing vitamin C levels in urine samples; showing that vitamins A and D are harmful in excess; and characterizing B complex vitamins in collaboration with Egon Kodicek, his successor as Unit director. He authored several books on vitamins, including the popular ''Vitamins in Theory and Practice''. During and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Harris advised the British government on nutrition, directing work in methods of preserving foods without loss of vitamins, and ensuring that

rations Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

supplied adequate vitamin levels. In

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

he was one of the founder members of th
Nutrition Society
of which he served as the first secretary, and later president. In

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

he helped to set up the
International Union of Nutrition Societies
of which he was secretary-general from 1946 to 1960.

Personal life

In 1927 he married Rosie Snowman, daughter of Jacob Snowman. They had two sons: Michael Harris (born 1929), a medical doctor, and John Harris (born 1932), a physicist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Leslie 1898 births 1973 deaths British biochemists Academics of the University of Cambridge People educated at Liverpool College Alumni of the University of Manchester Fellows of the Royal Institute of Chemistry British nutritionists