Xavier Le Pichon, Who Modeled Movement of Earth’s Crust, Dies at 87

Xavier Le Pichon, a French geophysicist whose pioneering model of the earth’s tectonic plates helped revolutionize how scientists understand movements of the earth’s crust, died on March 22 at his home in Sisteron, in the south of France. He was 87.His death was announced in a statement by the Collège de France, France’s highest educational institution, where Dr. Le Pichon was a professor emeritus and had held…