Bucher Medal Research Articles

Memories of Professor Seiya Uyeda (1929 –2023)

UYEDA, Seiya was born on November 28, 1929 in Tokyo, Japan. He served initially as professor of geophysics at the Tokyo University until retiring in 1990. After this actuated in the Tokai University until 2008. During this period, he was a visiting scientist or professor at US and Europe as in Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford, California (UCSD), Columbia (LDGO), Pierre et Marie Curie and Texas A&M universities, and Massachusetts (MIT) and California (Caltech) Institutes of Technology. His research covered rock magnetism, marine and land terrestrial heat flow, plate tectonics, geodynamics of subduction zone/island arcs, and earthquake prediction by seismic-electromagnetic methods. He has served for international projects and organizations, such as International Geodynamics (GDP) and Ocean Drilling (IODP), International Unions of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and Geological Sciences (IUGS). He has been conferred an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Athens, and foreign membership of United States National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Russian Academy of Sciences. These his many published scientific works he ended up receiving two awards throughout his career: Alexander Agassiz Medal, in 1972 and Walter H. Bucher Medal, in 1991.

Susan L. Beck Receives 2020 Walter H. Bucher Medal

Susan L. Beck was awarded the 2020 Walter H. Bucher Medal at the virtual AGU Fall Meeting in December. The medal is for “original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere.”

Leigh Royden Receives 2019 Walter H. Bucher Medal

Leigh Royden was awarded the 2019 Walter H. Bucher Medal at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019 Honors Ceremony, held on 11 December 2019 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for “original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere.”

Phil England wins AGU's Bucher Medal

Phil England wins AGU's Bucher Medal

Philip England Receives 2018 Walter H. Bucher Medal

Philip England was awarded the 2018 Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 12 December 2018 in Washington, D. C. The medal is for “original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere.”

Samuel A. Bowring Receives 2016 Walter H. Bucher Medal

Samuel A. Bowring was awarded the 2016 Walter H. Bucher Medal at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 14 December 2016 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for "original contributions to the basic knowledge of crust and lithosphere."

Tektites, Apollo, the Crust, and Planets: A Life with Trace Elements

Stuart Ross Taylor, MSc (University of New Zealand), PhD (Indiana University), ScD (University of Oxford), FAA, AC, always called Ross, grew up on a farm near Ashburton, New Zealand. Ross has worked on a wide variety of topics in trace element geochemistry, including the composition and evolution of the Moon, the continental crust, tektites, impact glasses, and island arc rocks. In 1969 he carried out the first chemical analysis of the first returned lunar sample at NASA in Houston. He has published 10 books and 240 papers in scientific journals. He was awarded the V.M. Goldschmidt Award of the Geochemical Society in 1993. In 1994 he was elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1998, he was awarded the Leonard Medal of the Meteoritical Society, in 2002 the Bucher Medal of the American Geophysical Union, and in 2012 the Shoemaker Distinguished Lunar Scientist Medal of the NASA Lunar Science Institute. Asteroid 5670 is named Rosstaylor.

Bryan L. Isacks Receives 2014 Walter H. Bucher Medal

Bryan L. Isacks was awarded the 2014 Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 17 December 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for “original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere.”

James R. Rice Receives 2012 Walter H. Bucher Medal: Citation

James R. Rice was awarded the 2012 Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 5 December 2012 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for “original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere”.

James R. Rice Receives 2012 Walter H. Bucher Medal: Response

Thank you, Terry, for those generous remarks, also for easing me into geophysics many years ago at Brown and for the friendship and wonderful exchanges on friction, lab things, faulting, and earthquakes over the years since.

Paul F. Hoffman Receives 2010 Walter H. Bucher Medal

Paul F. Hoffman was awarded the 2010 Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 15 December 2010 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for “original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere.”

Zoback Receives 2008 Walter H. Bucher Medal

Mark D. Zoback was awarded the 2008 Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held 17 December 2008 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for “original contributions to the basic knowledge of the Earth's crust.”

Watson awarded 2006 Walter H. Bucher medal

E. Bruce Watson was awarded the Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting honors ceremony, which was held on 13 December 2006 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal recognizes original contributions to the basic knowledge of crust and lithosphere.It is with great pleasure that I introduce Bruce Watson as this year's recipient of the Walter H. Bucher Medal. This honor comes at an opportune moment, as 2006 represents the thirtieth anniversary of Bruce's first publications on the role of silicate melt structure in trace element partitioning. As always, Bruce's approach to the problem was original, in this case investigating mineral‐melt partitioning by simply eliminating the mineral, and instead focusing the distribution of trace elements between immiscible melts. In 2006, a conceptually identical paper appeared in the pages of Science. This affords a quantification not often observed at awards ceremonies: Exactly how far ahead of his time was Bruce Watson? The answer is, 30±1 years.

Paterson receives 2004 Walter H. Bucher medal

Mervyn S. Paterson received the Bucher Medal at the 2004 Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony on 15 December, in San Francisco, California. The medal is given for original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere.

Taylor receives the 2002 Walter H. Bucher medal

Stuart Ross Taylor was awarded the 2002 Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony which was held on 8 December 2002, in San Francisco, California. The medal is given for original contributions to the basic knowledge of the Earth's crust and lithosphere.

Sleep receives Walter H. Bucher medal

Norman H. Sleep was awarded the Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony which was held on December 8, 1998, in San Francisco, California. The medal recognizes original contributions to the basic knowledge of the Earth's crust.

Kanamori receives the Bucher Medal

Hiroo Kanamori was awarded the Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony on December 17, 1996, in San Francisco, California. The Bucher Medal recognizes original contributions to the basic knowledge of the Earth's crust. The award citation and Kanamori's response are given here.

Council establishes new medal, approves bylaw changes

At its May 22,1996, meeting, the AGU Council established a medal for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the Earth's mantle and core. This medal honors Inge Lehmann, the discoverer of the inner core and the only woman (to date) to be awarded AGU's Bowie Medal. The Lehmann Medal may not be awarded more often than biennially. The awarding of the Bucher Medal and the Lehmann Medal is expected to alternate. The Council also approved an award for Excellence in Geophysical Education. Members will be invited to submit nominees for each of these new honors.

Hurley receives Bucher Medal

Patrick M. Hurley was awarded the Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Spring Meeting Honors Ceremony on May 31 in Baltimore. The Bucher Medal recognizes original contributions to the basic knowledge of the Earth's crust. The award citation and Hurley's response are given here.

Khramov receives Bucher Medal

The Walter H. Bucher Medal, given by AGU for original contributions to the basic knowledge of the Earth's crust, was presented to Aleksey N. Khramov at the 1993 AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony on December 8, 1993. The award citation and Khramov's response are presented here.