Paul Tapponnier (born 6 January 1947 in

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

) is a French geologist, specializing in

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...

and

crustal deformation Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...

Education and career

Tapponnier graduated in 1970 with an M.S. in geology from the

École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris Mines Paris - PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (until May 2022 Mines ParisTech, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines de Paris, les Mines, or Paris School of Mines), is a French grande école and a c ...

. From 1972 to 1975 he was a research fellow at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT). He received in 1978 his doctorate from the Université Montpellier-II. He was an associate professor from 1980 to 1985, a full professor from 1986 to 1990, and a full professor with tenure from 1991 to 2009 (and simultaneously, the director of the tectonics department) at the

Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris The Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris - Université de Paris (IPGP, University of Paris; French for "Paris Institute of Earth Physics") is a French governmental, non-profit research and higher education establishment located in Paris, dedica ...

. In 1985 he was a visiting scientist at the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

. From January to July 2000, he was a visiting professor at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. Since 2009 he has been a tectonics group leader at the EOS (Earth Observatory of Singapore) of

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various inte ...

. Tapponnier was a pioneer in the 1970s in the use of

satellite imagery Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell ima ...

for the study of plate tectonics. Much of his research, often in collaboration in the late 1970s with Peter Molnar, deals with Asian tectonics involving the collision of the

Indian Plate The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began mov ...

with the

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

. Tapponnier has headed several oceanographic research cruises and many field projects in various countries. His research interests include:

Awards and honors

* 1984 — Médaille d'argent du

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

* 1985 — Alfred Wegener Medal * 1990 — Grand prix scientifique de la ville de Paris * 1994 — Fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's act ...

* 1996 — Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur * 2001 —

Lyell Medal The Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal. This medal is awarded based on one Earth Scientist's exceptional contribution of research to the scientific ...

* 2005 — Member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

(section ''Sciences de l'univers'').Paul Tapponnier, Académie des sciences
* 2005 — Foreign associate member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

Selected publications

Articles

*with P. Molnar: *with P. Molnar: *with P. Molnar: *with P. Molnar: *with P. Molnar: *with P. Molnar: *with G. Peltzer, A. Y. Le Dain, R. Armijo, and P. Cobbold: *with Jean‐Philippe Avouac: *with V. Courtillot, C. Jaupart, I. Manighetti, and J. Besse: *with Xu Zhiqin, Françoise Roger, Bertrand Meyer, Nicolas Arnaud, Gérard Wittlinger, and Yang Jingsui:

Books

*with Kevin Kling: **

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tapponnier, Paul 1947 births Living people French geologists Mines Paris - PSL alumni University of Montpellier alumni Lyell Medal winners Members of the French Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences