John Casper Branner (1850-1922) was an American geologist and academic who discovered bauxite in Arkansas in 1887 as State Geologist . He was a chair of the Department of Botany and Geology at the University of Indiana. He served as President of the Indiana Academy of Science in 1889. He was President of the Seimsomological Society of America in 1911. He was the second President of Stanford University, serving from 1913 until his retirement in 1915. He was an expert in Brazilian geology, among many other things.

Branner received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1882, and his PhD from the University of Indiana in 1885.