Frank H. Brown

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 Turkana Basin in Kenya, east Africa. Brown introduced single-crystal argon-argon and potassium-argon dating into the Turkana Basin, resolving disputes over the age of Kenyanthropus platyops and other fossils.

Early life

Brown was born in Willits, California, to Vivien Clarice Jameson Brown and carpenter and viticulturist Francis Edward Brown. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, he studied chemistry, Latin and linguistics, rowed, and spent one obligatory year in the ROTC. 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. In the course of his work Brown came to learn numerous East African languages including Swahili, Kikuyu, Amharic, Turkana and Daasanach. The project of systematically mapping ash layers and documenting their chronology was conducted in collaboration with geochemist Thure Cerling. Brown's efforts helped to date important hominin fossils including the Australopithecus "Lucy", Turkana Boy, and the specimen Kenyanthropus platyops. Because of his work Brown was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in London in 1985.

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. In 2001 the university honored Brown with the Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence.