
Francis Birch Lecture
Information on the Lecture
The Francis Birch Lecture honors the life and work of Francis Birch, a renowned geophysicist. It is presented annually to a recipient who exemplifies Birch’s work, especially those focused on elasticity, phase relations, thermal properties, heat flow, and the composition of the Earth’s interior. The lecture is presented during the AGU Fall Meeting.
The Birch Lecture is also part of the Bowie Lecture Series, established in 1989 to commemorate the 50th presentation of the William Bowie medal, AGU’s highest honor.

Lecturer Benefits
AGU is proud to recognize our section honorees. Recipients of the Francis Birch Lecture will receive the following benefits with the honor:
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1
Lecture certificate
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Recognition in Eos
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Recognition at the AGU Fall Meeting during the lecture presentation year
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An invitation to present the Birch Lecture at the AGU Fall Meeting during the lecture presentation year
Eligibility
To better understand eligibility for nominators, supporters and committee members, review AGU’s Honors Conflict of Interest Policy.
Nominee Eligibility
- The nominee is required to be an active AGU member.
- The following individuals are not eligible to be candidates for the award during their terms of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team members;
- Honors and Recognition Committee members;
- Tectonophysics section leadership
- Francis Birch Lecture Committee members;
- All full-time AGU staff; and
- AGU Fellows.
Nominator Eligibility
- Nominators are not required to hold an active AGU membership.
- Thesis/research advisors are eligible nominators.
- The following individuals are not eligible to be nominators for the award during their terms of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team members;
- Honors and Recognition Committee members;
- Tectonophysics section leadership
- Francis Birch Lecture Committee members; and
- All full-time AGU staff.
Supporter Eligibility
- Individuals who write letters of support for the nominee are not required to be active AGU members.
- Supports may not be currently or recently associated with the nominee’s institution.
- The following individuals are not eligible to be supporters for the award during their terms of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team members;
- Honors and Recognition Committee members;
- Tectonophysics section leadership
- Francis Birch Lecture Committee members; and
- All full-time AGU staff.
Relationships to a Nominee
The following relationships need to be identified and communicated to the Award Committee but will not disqualify individuals from participating in the nomination or committee review process. These apply to committee members, nominators, and supporters:
- Current dean, departmental chair, supervisor, supervisee, laboratory director, an individual with whom one has a current business or financial relationship (e.g., business partner, employer, employee);
- Research collaborator or co-author within the last three years; and/or
- An individual working at the same institution or having accepted a position at the same institution.
Individuals with the following relationships are disqualified from participating in the award nomination process as a nominator or supporter:
- Family member, spouse, or partner.
- A previous graduate (Master’s or Ph.D.) and/or postdoctoral advisor, or postdoctoral fellow may not write a nomination letter but may write a supporting letter after five years of terminating their relationship with the nominee beginning on 1 January after the year the relationship was terminated.
- A former doctoral or graduate student, or a former postdoctoral fellow may not write a nomination letter for a former advisor but may write a supporting letter after five years of terminating their relationship with the nominee beginning on 1 January after the year the relationship was terminated.
Nomination Package
Named section lectures are not required to follow a nomination cycle process. Sections have the flexibility to adopt the process that will best serve their communities in seeking lecture recipients
For questions about nomination requirements or the submission process, please contact Daniel Faulkner, Tectonophysics Section President.


Recipients

Philippe Agard

Demian M. Saffer

Taras Gerya
Video

Christie D Rowe
Lecture Title
Walking the seismogenic zone: A field geology perspective on earthquakes
Field Photo
Video

Claudio Faccenna

Carolina R Lithgow-Bertelloni

Greg Hirth

Maya Tolstoy

Kelin Wang

David Bercovici

Roland Burgmann

Richard H Sibson

Michael Manga

Wang-Ping Chen

Jerry X Mitrovica

Suzanne M Carbotte

Jean-Philippe Avouac

Claude P Jaupart

Leigh Royden

Shun-ichiro Karato

W Roger Buck

Gerald Schubert

Louise H Kellogg

Paul Tapponnier

Richard G Gordon

Donald W Forsyth

Ross S Stein

Harry W Green

James R Rice
