Dr Simon Harrison was born in 1947. He attended St Paul’s school, then London University. Harrison came to Wolfson as a graduate student in 1969 and obtained a DPhil in applied low temperature physics from the Clarendon Lab in 1972. According to Harrison, “Back in those days, we all felt like pioneers at the modest Banbury Road headquarters of the College, but also felt privileged to receive the inspiring leadership of Sir Isaiah Berlin, who made himself very accessible to the lowly graduate students. It was an exciting time.”
In 1974, Harrison moved to the west coast of America and founded a number of tech-oriented companies over the next 20 years. After retiring in 2012 he reconnected with Wolfson and the Clarendon Lab. With the help of the College, the Science Research Council and the Clarendon, Harrison was able to establish the Wolfson Harrison UK Research Council Physics Scholarship, which provides a fully-funded DPhil each year for a new student. Harrison feels “this has been very rewarding for me” and he takes a keen interest in the work and progress of these students, as well as the general state of Oxford Physics.
Presently, Harrison lives in Pasadena, California and his current interest, in addition to physics, is in epigenetic testing, also known as molecular diagnostics, particularly as it relates to the issue of male fertility.
Find out more about the Wolfson Harrison UK Research Council Physics Scholarship.