The Walter H. Bucher Medal is an annual award to one honoree from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for "for original contributions to the basic knowledge of the crust and lithosphere.
"[1][2] The inaugural Bucher Medal was awarded in 1968 to J. Tuzo Wilson.
[4] The medal was established in 1966 (the year after Walter H. Bucher's death).
[5] The medal is named after Walter Hermann Bucher (1888–1965),[1] president of the AGU from 1948 to 1953.
Bucher's main fields of investigation were the Earth's tectonic processes and the resulting manifestations in the Earth's crust.