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ROCK STARS
                         John Casper Branner (1850–1922):

                                 Rock Star in Two Countries


         William R. Brice, 116 Luna Lane, Johnstown, Pennsylvania 15904, USA; Silvia F. de M. Figueirôa, Faculdade de Educação/UNICAMP,
         Av. Bertrand Russell, 801, 13083-865 Campinas-SP, Brazil

                                                               in 1875 but was discontinued in early 1878. Hartt died of yellow
                                                               fever in March of 1878. Branner moved to the State of Minas
                                                               Gerais to work in the gold mines, but the pay was poor and
                                                               Branner returned to the U.S. in 1880.
                                                                However, Brazil beckoned and Branner went back, working for
                                                               Thomas Edison, focusing on vegetable fibers for incandescent light
                                                               bulbs. After traveling about 25,000 miles in his unsuccessful search,
                                                               Branner returned home by the end of 1881, and received his B.S.
                                                               from Cornell in 1882. The U.S. Department of Agriculture commis-
                                                               sioned him to study the cotton-growing industry in Brazil, which
                                                               lasted until the spring of 1883.
                      John Casper Branner in 1873
                      when he was at Cornell Univer-
                      sity (https://exhibits .stanford
                      .edu/su-photos/catalog/
                      xr781dp2555).
          Upon Dr. Branner’s arrival, I came under the spell of a great scien-
          tist and a great teacher, whose friendship lasted over his lifetime.
          —Herbert Hoover

         EARLY YEARS
          John Casper Branner was born in New Market, Tennessee,
         USA, on 4 July 1850, the second of nine children. At age two,
         his family moved to a farm on the French Broad River, near
         Dandridge, Tennessee. That allowed him to have close contact
         with the natural world, probably influencing his decision to
         become a geologist. At six, he and his sister, age 10, attended a
         female academy, but he went to the boy’s academy the following
         year. During the Civil War, the family home became a field hospi-  The “Geological Commission of Brazil” personnel (left to right) John C.
         tal, and the family lost everything. Twice Branner left school to   Branner, Elias Fausto Pacheco Jordão, Charles F. Hartt, Herbert H. Smith,
         enlist, unsuccessfully, in the Confederate Army; he was only 12   Orville A. Derby, Marc Ferrez, Unknown, Richard Rathbun.
         the first time and 13 the second.
          Branner studied a year at Horton Academy in New Market in   STATE SURVEYS AND TEACHING
         1865, and in 1867 attended Maryville College (Tennessee). While   In 1883, Branner was appointed to the Second Geological
         there he became interested in the new university in Ithaca, New   Survey of Pennsylvania but didn’t stay long. In the spring of 1885,
         York, founded by Ezra Cornell. In 1869, planning to do a divinity   with the assistance of his Cornell fraternity mate, David Starr
         course, he traveled to Ithaca where he studied at Ithaca Academy   Jordan, then President of Indiana University, Branner was elected
         before entering Cornell in 1870. He covered expenses by teaching   a professor of geology, and the university granted him an honorary
         Latin, washing dishes, and other odd jobs, but often went hungry   Ph.D. Branner and Jordan developed a center of educational excel-
         due to the lack of funds. He began the “classical course” (Branner   lence and cutting-edge geological research. However, Branner was
         1913, p. 371), but took mostly science classes, including geology,   soon on the move again. In the spring of 1887, he was appointed
         which brought him in contact with Charles Hartt, who created the   the first state geologist of Arkansas.
         geology department in 1868; thus, changing Branner’s life and   A state geological survey was needed because of possible gold
         beginning his involvement with Brazil.                and silver deposits in the Ouachita Mountains. Based on unveri-
                                                               fied beliefs, mining companies were formed to exploit the depos-
         BRAZIL                                                its. Branner’s former Cornell classmate Theodore Comstock
          Even without having a degree, Hartt chose Branner to accom-  investigated these mining areas and found very little precious
         pany him to Brazil in 1874. Hartt’s goal was to create a geological   metal content. Considering about $113 million  had been invested
                                                                                                  1
         survey, and the “Geological Commission of Brazil” was founded   in the mining ventures, the news was not welcomed. Branner


         1  Approximately US$3.3 billion in 2021 dollars (https://futureboy.us/fsp/dollar.fsp [accessed 23 July 2021]).

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