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==Biography==
Randall was born in [[Burr Oak, Michigan]], on December 17, 1870. His family then moved to Ann Arbor, where he spent his formative years and most of his life. He graduated from the Ann Arbor High School (now [[Pioneer High School (Ann Arbor, Michigan)|Pioneer High School]]) in 1889, and then earned his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Michigan in 1893.<ref name=faculty-history-project>{{cite web|last1=University of Michigan|title=Harrison McAllister Randall.|url=http://um2017.org/faculty-history/faculty/harrison-mcallister-randall|website=Faculty History Project|access-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> A year later he completed a master's degree, then spent a few years teaching in high schools in [[West Bay City]] and [[Saginaw]], living with his girlfriend Ida Muma who had a degree in [[classical studies]] from Michigan.<ref name="oral-history">{{cite web|last1=Dennison|first1=David M.|last2=King|first2=W. James|title=Oral History Transcript: Dr. Harrison M. Randall|url=http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4840_1.html|website=American Institute of Physics|access-date=2 April 2015}}</ref>
On August 24, 1898, he married Ida, then in 1899 he returned to the University of Michigan to work as an instructor and finish his doctorate. He completed his PhD in physics in 1902, and immediately took a position on the faculty of the University, where he remained for the next 38 years.<ref name="faculty-history-project" />
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In 1910 Randall moved abroad to work under Professor [[Friedrich Paschen]] at the [[University of Tübingen]]—55 years before Tübingen and Ann Arbor would become [[Twin towns and sister cities|sister cities]]. This was shortly after Paschen had discovered what is now called the Paschen series in the spectrum of hydrogen, and about 20 years after the discovery of what is now called [[Paschen's Law]] of electrical discharges. Randall said that he knew nothing about spectroscopy at the time and Paschen simply handed him a spectrometer and expected him to get to work—which he ultimately did. Even to the end of his life Randall considered Paschen his greatest mentor.<ref name="oral-history" />
Prior to 1910, the Michigan Physics Department had focused on precision [[metrology]]. Dr. Randall, who took all of his degrees at Michigan, initially specialized in that subject. In 1902, his PhD thesis measured the [[thermal expansion|coefficient of expansion]] of quartz. During his 1910-11 sabbatical year in [[Tübingen]], [[Germany]], he met [[Friedrich Paschen]] and became an expert in [[infrared spectroscopy]]. [[Quantum mechanics]] did not yet exist as a field, and the study of atomic spectra was largely ''ad hoc'' experimentation with very little theoretical underpinning. This was also the training Randall received as a young physicist. But Randall came home from his 1910 sabbatical at Tübingen with new ideas (as well as some new equipment Paschen had helped him develop), and went on to lead a radical overhaul of physics research at Michigan.<ref name="oral-history" />
==Theoretical physics==
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