Harman achieved a double first in the Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge and went on to train in medicine at the Middlesex Hospital in 1895. He was lecturer and later examiner in anatomy at Caius and King's Colleges, Cambridge. He was made a FRCS in 1898.

He was instrumental in bringing about many innovations and changes during his distinguished career in ophthalmology. He is best known for his fixation forceps, that was designed in 1913 and is still in use. Other instruments that he developed included an aqueous needle, a corneal loupe, a diaphragm test, an eyelid retractor, an ophthalmoscope, a strabismus set of instruments (figure 1a–c⇓) and a refractometer, which is illustrated on the front cover of this issue of the BJO. The …