Dr. Betty Wright Harris, accomplished organic chemist, is widely recognized as a leading expert on explosives, environmental remediation and hazard waste treatment. 

In 1986, she patented a simple and extremely sensitive spot test for the presence of 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB). 

Her innovation allowed the military and private industry to quickly ascertain the presence of potentially explosive material. The federal Department of Homeland Security also uses the test to screen for nitro aromatic explosives. 

Born on July 29, 1940, in rural northwestern Louisiana, Wright was the seventh of 12 children. A precocious student, Harris began college at age 16, receiving a B.S. in chemistry, with a minor in mathematics, from Southern University in 1961. She then earned a M.S. in chemistry from Atlanta University in Georgia in 1963. 

For the next decade, she taught chemistry and mathematics at the college level, securing a position at Mississippi Valley State University and Southern University. She also completed doctoral work at the University at Wisconsin at Milwaukee. 

The findings of her dissertation, “Reaction of 2-Aminopyridine with Picryl Halides,” were later published in the journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry. After a brief stint with IBM, Harris accepted an offer to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico as a visiting staff member. 

There she would begin to specialize in the study of explosives and nuclear weapons, developing expertise in a variety of areas, including the cleanup of hazardous materials and environmental restoration. 

Over the course of her career at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Harris assumed more and more managerial responsibilities. Her expertise in chemistry and explosives increased, ultimately leading to her invention of the 1, 3, 5-triamino-2, 4, 6-trinitrobentene spot test. (U.S. Patent #4,618,452). 

She also grew more interested in recruiting women and people of color to become scientists, establishing, for example, a summer program for promising high school students. She also created a chemistry badge for the Girl Scouts and participated in making a CD-ROM titled “Telling Our Story: Women in Science for McClean Media.”

Following her retirement from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2002, Harris worked at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Classification as a certified document reviewer. This agency determines whether documents should remain classified or be released to the public. 

Harris had long held a “Q” clearance, which allows her to see items with Restricted Data.

Harris has been a member of the American Chemical Society for five decades. She is also a member of Women in Science and Engineering and the American Society for the Advancement of Science. She served as president of the New Mexico Business and professional Women’s Organization and, in 1999, received a Governor’s Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women. 

Harris’ marriage to Alloyd A. Harris ended in divorce. The couple has three children, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.