Little was publicly known about the first Black scientist to codiscover an element.

Chemists may know James Harris as the first Black scientist to be credited with codiscovering an element. In fact, we referenced this in a previous episode of Stereo Chemistry about making superheavy elements. But beyond this memorable factoid, details about this accomplished nuclear chemist are scarce, and most sources repeat the same superficial information. Kristen Frederick-Frost, curator of modern science at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, wants to change that. After discovering that the museum's database lacked material on Harris, she scoured archival records and sought out former colleagues, friends, and family members to fill in details of his life and career. In this bonus episode of Stereo Chemistry, host Kerri Jansen and special guest Darryl Boyd join Frederick-Frost to explore Harris's story beyond the discoveries that made him famous. And we even get an unexpected peek into his lab, courtesy of the US National Archives.

Boyd, a polymer chemist, previously researched James Harris while writing a short article for C&EN's "Black Chemists You Should Know About."

Listen to our April 2019 Stereo Chemistry episode "If You Want to Change the Element, You Have to Change the Nucleus."

Read the Ebony magazine profile about James Harris.

Read about James Harris's experiments with element 104.

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In this episode of C&EN Uncovered, host Craig Bettenhausen speaks with C&EN Policy and Regulation reporter, Delger Erdenesanaa, about her article talking about the trials and takeaways of the 30th annual United Nations climate summit. Check out Delger's story on COP30 and the proposed biobased climate solutions and how they may impact the future of the chemical industry and the world.

Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Executive producer: David Anderson

Host: Craig Bettenhausen

Reporter: Delger Erdenesanaa

Video + Audio Producer: David Anderson, Jeremy Barr

Episode artwork: Andre Penner/Associated Press

Music: Commercial Flow, Shutterstock

Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email cenfeedback@acs.org.

C&EN's award-winning podcast Inflection Point leans on our 100-year archive to trace headline topics in science today back to their disparate and surprising roots. In each episode, we explore three lesser-known moments in science history that ultimately led us to current-day breakthroughs. With help from expert C&EN reporters, this show examines how discoveries from our past have shaped our present and will change our future.

In the third episode of our second season, hosts David Anderson and Gina Vitale travel back in time to relive three historical moments that ultimately led to our current understanding of antibiotic resistance. They also bring in C&EN reporter Rowan Walrath to offer a glimpse into a doomsday-scenario future when antibiotics are no longer effective.

Subscribe to Inflection Point now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

C&EN's award-winning podcast Inflection Point leans on our 100-year archive to trace headline topics in science today back to their disparate and surprising roots. In each episode, we explore three lesser-known moments in science history that ultimately led us to current-day breakthroughs. With help from expert C&EN reporters, this show examines how discoveries from our past have shaped our present and will change our future.

In this episode, hosts David Anderson and Gina Vitale charge up the time machine to relive three historical moments that led to the lithium-ion battery. They also bring in C&EN reporter Prachi Patel to discuss the shortcomings of lithium-ion batteries, whether we're facing a lithium shortage, and new battery chemistry still on the horizon.
Subscribe to Inflection Point now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

C&EN's award-winning podcast Inflection Point leans on our 100-year archive to trace headline topics in science today back to their disparate and surprising roots. In each episode, we explore three lesser-known moments in science history that ultimately led us to current-day breakthroughs. With help from expert C&EN reporters, this show examines how discoveries from our past have shaped our present and will change our future.

In the second episode of our second season, hosts David Anderson and Gina Vitale travel back in time to relive three historical moments that ultimately led to scientists being able to edit genes. They also bring in C&EN reporter Max Barnhart to offer a glimpse into the future of gene editing technology.

Subscribe to Inflection Point now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In the first episode of our second season, hosts David Anderson and Gina Vitale travel back in time to relive three historical moments that led to blockbuster drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. They also talk with C&EN reporter Aayushi Pratap about how future GLP-1 drugs may expand on the current slate of options.

C&EN's latest podcast, Inflection Point, leans on our 100-year archive to trace headline topics in science today back to their disparate and surprising roots. In each episode, we explore three lesser-known moments in science history that ultimately led us to current-day breakthroughs. With help from expert C&EN reporters, this new show examines how discoveries from our past have shaped our present and will change our future.

Subscribe to Inflection Point now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode, Uncovered hops back to the first episode of C&EN's StereoChemistry, which delved into the materials that won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Reporter Matt Davenport spoke with now-laureate Omar Yaghi and a handful of other researchers in and around this exciting subfield of chemistry. For more from C&EN on MOFs, check out our MOF topic page. Similarly, to read more about this year's Nobel Prizes, and look back at other years, we have a topic page for that as well.
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Credits
Executive producer: David Anderson
Host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporters: Matt Davenport, Mitch Jacoby
Audio Producer: David Anderson, Jeremy Barr, Matt Davenport
Episode artwork: H2MOF
Music: 'Commercial Flow', Shutterstock ––– 'Inflection', Jeremy Barr
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email cenfeedback@acs.org.

The 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded on Oct. 8 to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi for their work on metal organic frameworks (MOFs). Senior editor Prachi Patel joins a bonus episode of Stereo Chemistry to discuss what MOFs are, why they are so useful, and how they were discovered.

Check out Prachi's story on how MOFs won this year's prize at cenm.ag/chemnobel2025.

Listen to our 2018 Stereo Chemistry episode on MOFs here: http://cenm.ag/moftalk

Subscribe to Inflection Point now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Executive producer: David Anderson

Host: Gina Vitale

Reporter: Prachi Patel

Audio editor: Jeremy Barr

Music: Shutterstock

Episode artwork: Lingmei Liu et al.

Episode artwork source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-020-00361-6