Richard Anthony Harrison MBE

FRAS FRAS may refer to: * Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger ...

FInstP Fellowship of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) is "the highest level of membership attainable" by physicists who are members of the Institute of Physics (IoP), "for those with a degree in physics or related subject (or equivalent knowledge gained ...

is the Head of Space Physics Division and Chief Scientist at the

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the Atlas ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He is best known for his magnetic twisting theory involving the

coronal heating problem A corona ( coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's atmosphere. It consists of plasma. The Sun's corona lies above the chromosphere and extends millions of kilometres into outer space. It is most easily seen during a total so ...

of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

's atmosphere. He was born in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...

West Midlands (County) West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act ...

and attended

Solihull Sixth Form College Solihull Sixth Form College is a further education college for students aged 16 to 19. It is situated on the outskirts of Solihull in the West Midlands and draws students from across Solihull and Birmingham. Founded in 1974, the college consis ...

and

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. Whilst in his late teens, and as a keen acoustic guitarist, he set up a band called

Capella Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the sixth-brightest star in ...

. Fellow band members were his brother, Jeremy, and David J Nutting. They performed locally and were influenced by John Denver and

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

, amongst others. Richard Harrison received his B.Sc in 1979 and his Ph.D. in 1983 from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He then became SER (Research Fellow at the Space Research Department, University of Birmingham, and from 1986 Scientific Officer up to grade 7 of the Astrophysics division of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. From 1985-1986 he was visiting Scientists at the HAO in Boulder, United States. His main interest has been solar physics research, and he was instigator of the first multi-observatory observation of coronal mass ejections, joint leader at the 81.5 MHz radio array at Cambridge, principal scientists for the first mm observations of the Sun and principal investigator of the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer on SOHO. Moreover, he has been associated with several other experiments on the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) as well as on the solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). He has been author or co-author of more than 70 articles published in international journals and books. Richard Harrison served as Editor of the Society's journal Annales Geophysicae and as General Editor for the COSPAR Information Bulletin as well as member of several committees related to the Royal Society and to ESA, COSPAR or EGS. Richard Harrison was awarded the NCAR Outstanding Publication Prize and the

NASA Group Achievement Award The NASA Group Achievement Award (GAA) is an award given by NASA to groups of government or non-government personnel in recognition of group accomplishments contributing to NASA's mission. The criteria for earning the Group Achievement Award are ...

, and he is Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Member of the International Astronomical Union and Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Solar Research.

In popular media

Harrison appeared in a

Horizon (BBC TV series) ''Horizon'' is an ongoing and long-running British documentary television series on BBC Two that covers science and philosophy. History The programme was first broadcast on 2 May 1964 with "The World of Buckminster Fuller" which explored the ...

TV program, Secrets of the Star Disc, in 2004. Harrison was also acknowledged in the credits to

Wonders of the Solar System ''Wonders of the Solar System'' is a 2010 television series co-produced by the BBC and Science Channel, and hosted by physicist Brian Cox. ''Wonders of the Solar System'' was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 7 March 2010. The ...

: Empire of the Sun, 2010, a BBC TV series.

References

External links

Coronal heating problem

A Day In The Life Of Richard Harrison

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Richard British space scientists Living people Fellows of the Institute of Physics Members of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Birmingham People from Solihull Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Year of birth missing (living people)