Xavier Le Pichon

Xavier Le Pichon
Born	(1937-06-18) 18 June 1937 Qui Nhơn, Annam (now Vietnam)
Citizenship	French
Known for	Comprehensive model of plate tectonics
Awards	CNRS Silver Medal, member of the French Academy of Sciences; knight of the Legion of Honour; Wollaston Medal; foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Scientific career
Fields	Geophysics
Institutions	Columbia University, Collège de France, oceanological centre of Brittany, Pierre and Marie Curie University, École Normale Supérieure

Xavier Le Pichon (French pronunciation: [ɡzavje lə piʃɔ̃]; born 18 June 1937 in Qui Nhơn, French protectorate of Annam (later South Vietnam and today Vietnam)) is a French geophysicist. Among many other contributions, he is known for his comprehensive model of plate tectonics (1968), helping create the field of plate tectonics. In 1968 he combined the kinematic ideas of W. J. Morgan, D. McKenzie and R. L. Parker with the large data sets collected by Lamont, and especially with the respective magnetic profiles, to show that Plate Tectonics could accurately describe the evolution of the major ocean basins. He is professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Chair of Geodynamics (1986–2008). He is a lifelong devout Catholic, and has come to think of caring attention to others' weakness as an essential quality that allowed humanity to evolve. He lives with his wife and has five children and eleven grandchildren.

Biography

Le Pichon holds a doctorate in physics. Professional career:

• 1963: He began his scientific career as a scientific assistant at Columbia University, New York, United States.
• In 1969, he became head of the marine geology department of the oceanologic center of Brittany in Brest, France.
• In 1978, he became professor at Université P. et M. Curie (University of Paris VI).
• In 1984, he was head of the geology department at the École Normale Supérieure.
• In 1986, he became a professor at the Collège de France.

Prizes and memberships of learned societies

• In 1973, he won the CNRS Silver Medal.
• 1984: Maurice Ewing Medal from the American Geophysical Union
• 1985: member of the French Academy of Sciences; made knight of the Legion of Honour
• 1990: Japan Prize; made officer of the National Order of Merit
• 1991: Wollaston Medal, Geological Society of London
• 1995: foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• 2002: Balzan Prize

Works

• Riffaud, Claude; Le Pichon, Xavier (1976). Expédition 'Famous' à 3000 m sous l'Atlantique. Paris: Albin Michel.
• Le Pichon, Xavier (1986). kaiko voyage aux extremites de la mer. Le Seuil: Odile Jacob. ISBN 978-2738113238.
• Yijie, Tang; Le Pichon, Xavier (1999). La mort. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer. ISBN 978-2220044026.
• Le Pichon, Xavier; Francheteau, Jean; Bonnin, Jean (2013). Plate Tectonics (revised ed.). Elsevier. ISBN 9781483257273.

Further reading

• "Co-chairs: Xavier Le Pichon". Learning from the disabled. John Templeton Foundation.
• Ballard, Robert D.; Hively, Will (2002). The eternal darkness : a personal history of deep-sea exploration. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691095547.
• Commission on Geosciences Environment and Resources; Ocean Studies Board; National Research Council (2000). 50 years of ocean discovery: National Science Foundation 1950–2000. National Academies Press. pp. 71–72. ISBN 9780309172578.
• Frankel, Henry R. (2012). The continental drift controversy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107019942.
• Gilliss, Trent. "A geophysicist's view of the 'rigidity' and 'ductility' of human communities and the Earth". On Being with Krista Tippett. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
• Levin, Tanya (25 May 1998). "Interview of Xavier Le Pichon by Tanya Levin". Niels Bohr Library & Archives. American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 31 August 2015.

External links

• home page at Collège de France
• Interview with Le Pichon, "Fragility and the Evolution of Our Humanity" – Speaking of Faith (25 June 2009)
• Xavier Le Pichon International Balzan Prize Foundation