Bucher, Walter H.

Bucher, Walter H. (Herman)

(1888–1965) geologist; born in Akron, Ohio. He taught at the University of Cincinnati (1913–40), joined Columbia University (1940–65), then became a consultant for Humble Oil (1956–65). His theory that mountains are built from contractions of the earth due to cooling and the earth's gravitational field was first proposed in his most famous book, The Deformation of the Earth's Crust (1933, revised 1964).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.