Xavier Le Pichon

"Le Pichon" redirects here. For the French anthropologist, see Alain le Pichon.

Xavier Le Pichon
وُلِدَ	(1937-06-18)18 يونيو 1937 Qui Nhơn, Annam, French Indochina
توفي	22 مارس 2025(2025-03-22) (aged 87) Sisteron, France
الجنسية	France
التعليم	University of Caen Normandy Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre
عـُرِف بـ	Comprehensive model of plate tectonics
الجوائز	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;Balzan Prize
السيرة العلمية
المجالات	Geophysics
الهيئات	Columbia University, Collège de France, oceanological centre of Brittany, Pierre and Marie Curie University, École Normale Supérieure

Xavier Le Pichon (فرنسية pronunciation: [ɡzavje lə piʃɔ̃]; 18 June 1937 – 22 March 2025) was a French geophysicist. Among many other contributions, he was 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, show that Plate Tectonics could accurately describe the evolution of the major ocean basins. He was a professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Chair of Geodynamics (1986–2008). He was a lifelong fervent Catholic and came to think of caring attention to others' weaknesses as an essential quality that allowed humanity to evolve. He lived with his wife and had six children and eleven grandchildren. He died in Sisteron on 22 March 2025, at the age of 87.

 Timeline

Le Pichon held 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 oceanology 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 extrémités de la mer. Le Seuil: Odile Jacob. ISBN 978-2020092333.
• 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. Archived from the original on 25 سبتمبر 2016. Retrieved 31 أغسطس 2015.
• 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. Archived from the original on 19 أغسطس 2016. Retrieved 26 يوليو 2016.
• Levin, Tanya (25 مايو 1998). "Interview of Xavier Le Pichon by Tanya Levin". Niels Bohr Library & Archives. American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 31 أغسطس 2015.

 External links

• Xavier Le Pichon at the Internet Movie Database
• "Xavier Le Pichon. Géodynamique". Collège de France (in الفرنسية). 11 أبريل 2022. Retrieved 15 أبريل 2025.
• "Xavier Le Pichon. Biographie et publications". Collège de France (in الفرنسية). Retrieved 15 أبريل 2025.
• Interview with Le Pichon, "Fragility and the Evolution of our Humanity" – Speaking of Faith (25 June 2009)
• Xavier Le Pichon International Balzan Prize Foundation