Herman Russell Branson (August 14, 1914 – June 7, 1995) was an American physicist, chemist, best known for his research on the α protein structure, and was also the president of two colleges.

One of his students would include Marie Maynard Daly who was the first woman of color in the United States to earn her doctorate in chemistry.

Branson replied in a letter that it was fine as written, approved submission to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and asked for 25 preprints when published.

[12] In 1984, Branson wrote Pauling biographers Victor and Mildred Goertzel implying that his contribution to the α helix had been greater than the final paper indicated.

When he received Pauling's note with the draft manuscript, Branson wrote, "I interpreted this letter as establishing that the α and γ in my paper were correct and that the subsequent work done was cleaning up or verifying.