the National Academy of Sciences in 1950, the American Philosophical Society in 1955, and served as the president of the Geological Society of America in 1963 and 1964. He received numerous honors in his career, including the Geological Society of America's Arthur L. Day Medal on 1950 and Penrose Medal in 1969, the American Geophysical Union's William Bowie Medal in 1960, the National Medal of Science from President Lyndon Johnson in 1967, the Vetlesen Prize (shared with Sir Edward Bullard) in 1968, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1973, and the International Association for the Advancement of High Pressure Research's Bridgman Award in 1983. Since 1992, the American Geophysical Union's Tectonophysics section has sponsored a Francis Birch Lecture, given at its annual meeting by a noted researcher in this field. Birch died of prostate cancer at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 30, 1992. He was survived by wife Barbara, his three children and his three brothers. His papers are in the Harvard University Archives. Notes References 1903 births 1992 deaths Military personnel from Washington, D.C. Scientists from Washington, D.C. Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni Harvard University faculty American geophysicists Penrose Medal winners National Medal of Science laureates Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Manhattan Project people People associated with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Deaths from prostate cancer Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel Presidents of the Geological Society of America Fellows of the American Physical Society Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts Members of the American Philosophical Society