Professor William Harrison

Professor William Harrison
Professor William Harrison
Professor William Harrison

MA (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon), FHEA

Personal Chair

About
Email Address
w.harrison@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 272897
Office Address
G30 Meston Building
Old Aberdeen Campus
Meston Walk
AB24 3UE

View on Map

School/Department
School of Natural and Computing Sciences

Biography

Bill Harrison grew up in southern England and was the first in his family to enter higher education.  He graduated with first-class Honours in Chemistry from University College, Oxford in 1982.  He stayed in Oxford to study for his DPhil (PhD) under the supervision of Prof Tony Cheetham, FRS, investigating the magnetic behaviour of transition-metal oxides. He then worked as assistant instrument scientist on the high resolution powder diffractometer (HRPD) at the ISIS spallation neutron source and a highlight of that time was the determination of the crystal structure of the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7–δ, which featured on the cover of Nature.  Following that, in 1988 he headed for sunnier climes for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara (supervisor Galen Stucky) where he studied advanced materials by state-of-the-art diffraction techniques. A second postdoc followed at the University of Houston (Texas), where a highlight was the study of layered hybrid perovskites as potential solar cell materials (Nature cover).  His first ‘real’ academic position in 1995 was a lecturer at the University of Western Australia, where he discovered his previously unsuspected enthusiasm for teaching.  He was appointed as lecturer in chemistry at the University of Aberdeen in 1998, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2000 and to Personal Chair in 2018. He currently serves as Director of Education in the School of Natural and Computing Science and sits on a number of University committees.  He teaches at all levels of the Chemistry programme and his University awards for teaching include ‘most accessible lecturer’ (2015), ‘best lecturer’ (2017) and ‘most supportive lecturer’ (2020).   His independent research in synthetic and structural chemistry focuses on undergraduate research projects.  His interests outside the University include photography, walking the dog, objecting to planning applications, and family activities.

Internal Memberships

School Director of Education; personal tutor; member of the retention task group; positive outcomes task group; student survey working group...  

Latest Publications

View My Publications

Research

Research Overview

Synthetic and structural inorganic chemistry: 632 publications, 11733 citations, Hirsch h-index 52 (data retrieved from Web of Science, 8 March 2024).

 

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Bill Harrison is Course Coordinator for Level 1 Chemistry (CM1020, CM1021, CM1512 and CM1513) and teaches on the following courses: 

  • CM1020 Chemistry for the Life Sciences 1
  • CM1021 Chemistry for the Physical Sciences 1
  • CM1022 Elements of Chemistry 1
  • CM1512 Chemistry for the Life Sciences 2   
  • CM1513 Chemistry for the Physical Sciences 2
  • CM1522 Elements of Chemistry 2   
  • CM2519 Inorganic Chemistry
  • CM3037 Inorganic and Solid-State Chemistry 
  • CM4037 Advanced Inorganic and Physical Chemistry
  • CM4028/CM4036/CM4535 project supervision
  • CM5003 MChem Chemistry Applications
Publications

Page 56 of 57 Results 551 to 560 of 566

  • Ethylenediamine zinc hydrogen phosphite, [H2N(CH2)(2)NH2](0.5)center dot ZnHPO3, containing two independent, interpenetrating, mixed inorganic/organic networks

    Rodgers, J. A., Harrison, W. T. A.
    Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol. 2, pp. 2385-2386
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Ethylenediamine zinc hydrogen phosphite, [H2N(CH2)(2)NH2](0.5)center dot ZnHPO3, containing two independent, interpenetrating, mixed inorganic/organic networks

    Rodgers, J. A., Harrison, W. T. A.
    Chemical Communications, pp. 2385-2386
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • H3N(CH2)(6)NH3 center dot Zn-4(PO4)(2)(HPO4)(2)center dot 3H(2)O: a novel three-dimensional zinc phosphate framework containing 5- and 20-rings

    Rodgers, J. A., Harrison, W. T. A.
    Journal of Materials Chemistry, vol. 10, pp. 2853-2856
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Lanthanum selenite, La-2(SeO3)(3)

    Harrison, W. T. A.
    Acta Crystallographica Section C, Crystal Structure Communications, vol. 56, pp. 627-628
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Na-3/4(NH4)(1/4)ZnPO4, a new framework zincophosphate. Survey of MZnPO4 tetrahedral topologies

    Harrison, W. T. A.
    Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, vol. 215, pp. 288-292
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Synthesis and crystal structure of Cs(VO2)(3)(TeO3)(2), a new layered cesium vanadium(V) tellurite

    Harrison, W. T. A., Buttery, J. H. N.
    Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie, vol. 626, pp. 867-870
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Synthesis and single-crystal structure of Cs3Zn4O(AsO4)(3)center dot 4H(2)O, an open-framework zinc arsenate

    Harrison, W. T. A., Phillips, M. L. F., Bu, X. H.
    Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, vol. 39, pp. 359-365
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • X-ray crystal structure of trans-bis(monoethanolamine) bis(saccharinato)nickel(II)

    Andac, O., Topcu, Y., Yilmaz, V. T., Harrison, W. T. A.
    Journal of Chemical Crystallography, vol. 30, pp. 767-771
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • (CN3H6)(2)center dot Zn4H5(PO4)(5), a new layered guanidinium zinc phosphate built up from 3-, 4-, and 8-ring units

    Harrison, W. T. A., Phillips, M. L. F., Clegg, W., Teat, S. J.
    Journal of Solid State Chemistry, vol. 148, pp. 433-437
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • An extreme case of ZnO6 octahedral distortion in trizinc tris(selenite) hydrate, Zn-3(SeO3)(3)center dot H2O

    Harrison, W. T. A.
    Acta Crystallographica Section C, Crystal Structure Communications, vol. 55, pp. 1980-1983
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
Show 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 results per page