The Walter H. Bucher Medal is an annual award to one honoree from the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

(AGU) for "for original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere." The inaugural Bucher Medal was awarded in 1968 to J. Tuzo Wilson. From 1975 to 1995 and from 1996 to 2018 the medal was awarded every two years. The medal was established in 1966 (the year after Walter H. Bucher's death). The medal is named after

Walter Hermann Bucher Walter Hermann Bucher (March 12, 1888 – February 17, 1965) was a Germany, German-United States, American geologist and paleontologist. He was born in Akron, Ohio, to Switzerland, Swiss-Germany, German parents. The family then returned to ...

(1888–1965), president of the AGU from 1948 to 1953. Bucher's main fields of investigation were the Earth's

tectonic Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...

processes and the resulting manifestations in the Earth's crust.

Medallists

* 1968 –

John Tuzo Wilson John Tuzo Wilson (October 24, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. ''Plate tectonics'' is the scientific theory that the rigi ...

* 1969 – James Gilluly * 1970 – David T. Griggs * 1971 –

Robert S. Dietz Robert Sinclair Dietz (September 14, 1914 – May 19, 1995) was a scientist with the US Coast and Geodetic Survey. Dietz, born in Westfield, New Jersey, was a marine geologist, geophysicist and oceanographer who conducted pioneering research along ...

* 1972 –

W. Jason Morgan William Jason Morgan (born October 10, 1935) is an American geophysicist who has made seminal contributions to the theory of plate tectonics and geodynamics. He retired as the Knox Taylor Professor emeritus of geology and professor of geoscienc ...

* 1974 –

Maurice Ewing William Maurice "Doc" Ewing (May 12, 1906 – May 4, 1974) was an American geophysicist and oceanographer. Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basi ...

* 1975 – Lynn Sykes * 1977 – Bruce C. Heezen * 1979 –

Edward Irving Edward Irving (4 August 17927 December 1834) was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church. Early life Edward Irving was born at Annan, Annandale the second son of Ga ...

* 1981 – Jack E. Oliver * 1983 – John W. Handin * 1985 – John G. Sclater * 1987 – William F. Brace * 1989 – Arthur H. Lachenbruch * 1991 – Seiya Uyeda * 1993 – Aleksey N. Khramov * 1995 –

Patrick Hurley Patrick Jay Hurley (January 8, 1883July 30, 1963) was an American politician and diplomat. He was the United States Secretary of War from 1929 to 1933, but is best remembered for being Ambassador to China in 1945, during which he was instrument ...

* 1996 –

Hiroo Kanamori is a Japanese seismologist who has made fundamental contributions to understanding the physics of earthquakes and the tectonic processes that cause them. Career Kanamori and American seismologist Thomas C. Hanks developed the moment magnitud ...

* 1998 – Norman H. Sleep * 2000 – James H. Dieterich * 2002 – Stuart Ross Taylor * 2004 – Mervyn S. Paterson * 2006 – E. Bruce Watson * 2008 – Mark Zoback * 2010 – Paul F. Hoffman * 2012 – James Rice * 2014 – Bryan Isacks * 2016 – Samuel A. Bowring * 2018 – Philip C. England * 2019 –

Leigh Royden Leigh "Wiki" H. Royden is an American Geologist. Early life Royden was born in Palo Alto, California. Royden's father was Halsey Royden, a mathematician. Education Royden received an A.B. degree in physics from Harvard University and a PhD i ...

* 2020 – Susan L. Beck * 2021 –

Mark Harrison Mark Harrison is the name of: * Mark Harrison (American football) (born 1990), American football player * Mark Harrison (comics) (born 1963), British comic book artist * Mark Harrison (footballer) (born 1960), English footballer * T. Mark Harrison ...

* 2022 –

Seth Stein Seth Avram Stein (born July 12, 1953, in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American geophysicist with an international reputation for his research in plate tectonics, seismology, and space geodesy. He has also done important work in public policy for ...

* 2023 – Chris Hawkesworth

References

{{American Geophysical Union American Geophysical Union awards Awards established in 1966