Francis Harold Brown

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Frank Brown in Turkana, Kenya.

Francis Harold Brown (October 24, 1943 – September 30, 2017) was an American geologist and geochemist who mapped the sedimentary sequence and geology of most of the

Kenyanthropus platyops and other fossils.[1][2]

Early life

Brown was born in Willits, California, to Vivien Clarice Jameson Brown and carpenter and viticulturist Francis Edward Brown.[3] As an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, he studied chemistry, Latin and linguistics, rowed, and spent one obligatory year in the ROTC.[4] Brown ultimately chose to pursue studies in geology and acquired his BA in 1965. He opposed the Vietnam war but reported to his draft board when he realized he had failed to register. Brown was not drafted.[4]

After receiving his PhD from Berkeley, he took a faculty position at the University of Utah in the Geology Department where he met Theresa Bauhs The two were married on his family farm on October 20, 1973, and went on to have two children: Erica Joy Brown (1976), and Elise Bauhs Brown (1980).

Early career in the Omo

Brown began his doctoral work at Berkeley studying under Garniss Curtis. In 1966 anthropologist

hominin remains.[4] Brown entered Ethiopia by land rover from Turkana, but became ill with malaria. He would later state that he became deeply attached to Kenyan culture after retracing his steps and finding help at the military outpost of Lokitaung.[4] Brown continued work in the Omo until a military coup in 1974 forced researchers from Ethiopia. For a brief period after his work in Ethiopia, Brown served on a U.S. scientific delegation attempting to normalize relations with China.[3]

Research in Turkana

Brown worked to map sedimentary sequences in a number of neighboring countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Libya, and while studying geology in these different regions Brown observed that some volcanic tuffs were spread over vast geographic distances.[5] In the course of his work Brown came to learn numerous East African languages including Swahili, Kikuyu, Amharic, Turkana and Daasanach.[4] Brown was also an expert in the botany and history of the region.[1]

At the request of paleoanthropologist

Queen Elizabeth II in London in 1985.[4]

University of Utah

Brown became a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah in 1971, and began to chair the department in 1988. Beginning in 1991, he served as dean of the University of Utah's college of mines and earth sciences for 25 years.[1][3] In 2001 the university honored Brown with the Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Potter, Lisa (4 October 2017). "U REMEMBERS FRANCIS 'FRANK' BROWN". University of Utah. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  2. . Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "Francis Brown". The Salt Lake City Tribune. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Siegel, Lee (Spring 2002). "Down to Earth". Continuum. University of Utah.
  5. . Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  6. . Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  7. ^ Spencer, Frank (1997). History of Physical Anthropology, Volume 1. Taylor & Francis.