John Casper Branner
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
geologist
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and academic who discovered bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
in 1887 as State Geologist. He was Chair
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...
of the Department of Botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
and Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
. He served as President of the Indiana Academy of Science in 1889. He was President of the Seismological Society of America
Seismological Society of America
The Seismological Society of America is an international society devoted to the advancement of seismology and its applications in understanding and mitigating earthquake hazards and in imaging the structure of the Earth....
in 1911. He was the second President of Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, serving from 1913 until his retirement in 1915. He was an expert in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian geology, among many other things.
Biography
Branner was born in the town of New Market, TennesseeNew Market, Tennessee
New Market is a town in Jefferson County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,234 at the 2000 census.-Geography:New Market is located at ....
where his father was a merchant. In 1852, the family went to live on a farm given his father by his grandfather a mile east of Dandridge on the French Broad river. He grew up there and on an adjacent property to which the family moved in 1859. During the civil war he was very anxious to join the confederate army, and on two occasions left school for the purpose of enlisting. His age, however, prevented his being accepted; he was only thirteen.
In 1865, he went to school a year at New Market and in 1867, he spent a year at Maryville College
Maryville College
Maryville College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Maryville, Tennessee, near Knoxville. It was founded in 1819 by Presbyterian minister Isaac L. Anderson for the purpose of furthering education and enlightenment into the West. The College is one of the fifty oldest colleges in the...
. He left that institution in 1868, and in 1869, went to Ithaca, New York, to attend Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. He passed a year in Ithaca Academy, and entered Cornell in 1870, in the so-called classical course.
In 1874, without having completed his university studies, he went by way of Europe to Brazil with Charles Fred Hartt, then professor of geology at Cornell. In 1875, he was made assistant on the geological survey of Brazil and remained on that work until the survey was abolished by the government and Professor Hartt died. In 1879, he accepted a position as assistant engineer and interpreter for the São Cyriaco Gold Mining Company of Boston, and spent a year near Serro, state of Minas Geraes, in the diamond regions of Brazil. In 1881, he returned to the United States, but was sent back to South America by Thomas Edison in search of a vegetable fiber for use in his then newly invented incandescent electric lamp.
In 1882, he returned to Cornell University, completed his studies and graduated. In 1883 to 1885, he was topographic geologist of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania in the anthracite regions; in 1885, after receiving his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
, he was made professor of geology in the Indiana University, a position he held until 1891, though he was absent on leave for several years. In 1887, he was appointed state geologist of Arkansas. As State Geologist, he exposed gold-mining swindles then operating in Arkansas, for which the citizens of Bear City, Arkansas burned him in effigy, and the stock promoters tried to have him fired. In 1891, he was appointed Professor of Geology at Stanford University. In 1899 he directed the Agassiz-Branner expedition to Brazil.
In 1913, he greatly contributed to genealogical research of the Shenandoah Valley by privately publishing Casper Branner of Virginia and his Descendants, a 453 page work documenting the genealogy of the Branner family and in particular the descendants of his great great grandparents, Casper Branner (1729–1792) and wife Catherine (1730–1800).
A dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
building and the Branner Earth Sciences Library
Branner Earth Sciences Library
The Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections is the main library supporting the Stanford University School of Earth Sciences on the Stanford University campus and part of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources...
at Stanford are named after him. Two of his Stanford students, United States President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
and his wife Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Henry Hoover was the wife of President of the United States Herbert Hoover and First Lady of the United States, 1929-1933. Mrs. Hoover was president of the Girl Scouts of the USA for two terms, 1922-1925 and 1935-1937....
, dedicated their English translation of the medieval mining classic De re metallica
De re metallica
De re metallica is a book cataloguing the state of the art of mining, refining, and smelting metals, published in 1556. The author was Georg Bauer, whose pen name was the Latinized Georgius Agricola...
to Branner.
Research resources
- John Casper Branner Presidential Papers, 1913-1917 (6.5 linear ft.) are housed in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Stanford University Libraries