Xavier Le Pichon

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Xavier Le Pichon (born June 18, 1937 in Quy Nhơn , Vietnam ) is a French geologist and pioneer of plate tectonics , for which he proposed a model in 1968. Since 1986 he has held the chair for geodynamics at the Collège de France .

Life

Xavier Le Pichon received its license in the subject physics at the University of Caen in 1959. Four years later he became a research assistant at the Columbia University in New York , and three years later he gained his doctorate at the University of Strasbourg .

Le Pichon became known in the professional world because of the model of plate tectonics he presented in 1968. This model is based on the principles that Dan Peter McKenzie and Robert L. Parker had developed a year earlier, and describes the structure of the earth's crust from six large continental plates and their movements over the last 120 million years. Thanks to this model, it became possible to better understand the formation of earthquakes and their distribution on earth, and to describe the history of the continents more precisely. In 1973 his book Plate Tectonics , written with Jean Bonnin and Jean Francheteau, was published, which was a standard work in the field of plate tectonics for many years.

In 1969 he took over the management of the geological department at the Center d'Océanologie in Brest and became one of the directors of the “FAMOUS project” . In 1978 he was appointed professor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris . In 1984 he was appointed director of the geological department at the École normal supérieure on rue d'Ulm in Paris. Since 1986 he has held the chair for geodynamics at the Collège de France .

In addition to his research, Xavier le Pichon is committed to the needs of the mentally handicapped. Since 1976 he has lived with his family in a center of the Communauté de l'Arche .

honors and awards

Le Pichon received the following honors, among others:

Works

  • with J. Francheteau and J. Bonnin: Plate Tectonics , Elsevier, 1973, 300 pp.
  • with G. Pautot: Le Fond des Océans , Que sais-je?, 1976, 128 pp.
  • with C. Riffaud: Expédition Famous, à 3000 m sous l'Atlantique , Albin Michel, 1976, 300 p.
  • Kaiko, voyage aux extrémités de la mer , Éditions Odile Jacob-Le Seuil, 1986, 255 pp.
  • Aux Racines de l'homme: de la mort à l'amour , Presses de la Renaissance, 1997, 300 pp.
  • with Tang Yi Jie: La Mort , Desclée de Brouwer, 1999, 154 pp.
  • The oceanic crust , Scientific American, September 1983 (Issue Dynamic Earth)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vincent Deparis: Histoire de la theory de la tectonique des plaques. In: Planet-Terre. September 23, 2003, accessed October 5, 2009 .
  2. ^ Xavier Le Pichon - Prix Balzan 2002 pour la géologie. (No longer available online.) Prix ​​Balzan , archived from the original on October 2, 2013 ; Retrieved October 5, 2009 .
  3. ^ Xavier Le Pichon: L'accueil de la personne souffrante est le signe de notre humanité. (No longer available online.) In: Semaines sociales de France. 2001, archived from the original on October 30, 2007 ; Retrieved October 5, 2009 .
  4. ↑ Biography at the Équipe Géodynamique d'Échanges Recherche Industrie Enseignement. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 29, 2008 ; Retrieved October 5, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Directory of members: Xavier Le Pichon. Academia Europaea, accessed on September 7, 2017 (English, with biographical and other information).
  6. ^ Xavier Le Pichon International Foundation Balzan Prize

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Le Pichon, Xavier
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French geologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Quy Nhơn