Charles B. Harris was born in New York City and spent most of his youth in Grosse Pointe. He attended the University of Michigan and received his bachelor's degree in 1963. In 1966 he received his Ph.D. in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under F. Albert Cotton. The following year, Harris went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he became a professor in the chemistry department. He headed this department from 2003 and was dean of the faculty from 2004 to 2007. In 2015 he retired. His research focus was in the field of ultrafast dynamics and electron dynamics as well as the dynamics of chemical reactions in liquids.
He educated multiple generations of scientists in chemical dynamics and ultrafast science who have since become leaders in the field including, as Ph.D. students, Paul Alivisatos, Michael D. Fayer, Roseanne Sension, Nien-hui Ge, Kelly Gaffney and as postdocs, Ahmed Zewail and Alan Campion.