Carl Wilhelm Franz von Branca (until 1907: Wilhelm von Branco; 9 September 1844 - 12 March 1928) was a German geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

 and paleontologist.

Biorgaphy

He was born at Potsdam

Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

.

After a career as an officer, later as a farmer, Branca later studied 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...

 in Halle

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...

 and Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

, receiving his doctorate in 1876. He did postdoctoral work in Straßburg

Strasburg

-Places:*Strasbourg, a city in Alsace *Straßburg, Austria, in Carinthia*Strasburg, Germany, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania*the former name of Brodnica, became Polish after World War I*Strassburg, the German name for Aiud, Alba...

, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, and in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 with Karl Alfred von Zittel

Karl Alfred von Zittel

Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel was a German palaeontologist.-Biography:He was born at Bahlingen in Baden, and educated at Heidelberg, Paris and Vienna. For a short period he served on the Geological Survey of Austria, and as assistant in the mineralogical museum at Vienna...

. In 1881 he achieved his habilitation

Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Berlin (today Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), where he then worked as a lecturer. After a short stint as a lecturer in Aachen

Aachen

Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

, von Branca then was named State Geologist at the Prussian Geological State Service in Berlin. From 1887 to 1890 he served as professor for geology and paleontology in Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

, until 1895 in Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...

, then for four years (until 1899) in Hohenheim

University of Hohenheim

The University of Hohenheim is a university in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1818 it is Stuttgart's oldest university and one of Germany's leading universities both in agricultural sciences and economics.-History:...

, until finally settling down in Berlin, where he was professor for geology until 1917, doubling as the director of the Museum für Naturkunde. In 1895, he was knightened. In 1917, von Branca retired from his posts at as museum director and professor

Von Branca's research covered stratigraphy, volcanism, paleonantrhopology, paleontology in general, and especially the evolution of ammonites and extinct veretbrates, including the finds of the German Tendaguru

Tendaguru

The Tendaguru Beds are a fossil-rich formation in Tanzania. It has been considered the richest of Late Jurassic strata in Africa. Continental reconstructions show Tendaguru to have been in the southern hemisphere during the Late Jurassic. Tendaguru is similar to the Morrison Formation except in...

 Expedition. Von Branca was one of the driving forces behind that famous excavation effort in what was then German East Africa, and is today Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

.

The plesiosaur Brancasaurus

Brancasaurus

Brancasaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous of what is now Germany. The type species is Brancasaurus brancai, first named by Wegner in 1914 in honor of German paleontologist Wilhelm von Branca...

and a species of brachiosaurid dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

, Brachiosaurus (by recent research considered the type species of a separate genus, Giraffatitan

Giraffatitan

Giraffatitan, meaning "giraffe titan", is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period . It was originally named as an African species of Brachiosaurus...

), were named in his honor.

He died at Munich in 1928.