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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]).
36 GSA TODAY | July 2022