| Authorised form of name | Pettigrew; John Douglas (1943 - 2019) |
| Other forms of name | Jack |
| Dates | 1943 - 2019 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Place of birth | Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia |
| Date of birth | 02/10/1943 |
| Place of death | Kempton, Tasmania, Australia |
| Date of death | 07/05/2019 |
| Occupation | Neuroscientist |
| Research field | Physiology |
| Neuroscience |
| Ecology |
| Ethology |
| Evolution |
| Phylogenetics |
| Activity | Education:
Katoomba High School; University of Sydney, BSc (1966); MSc (1968); MB (1969)
Career:
Resident Medical Officer, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales (1969); Miller Fellow (1970-1972); Research Associate (1972-1973), University of California, Berkeley; Associate Professor, California Institute of Technology (1974-1977); Associate Professor of Biology, Caltech, Pasadena (1978-1981); Director, National Vision Research Institute, Victoria (1979-1983); Professor of Physiology, University of Queensland (1983-2007); Director, Vision, Touch & Hearing Research Centre (1988-2007)
Memberships:
FAA (1987)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 19/03/1987 |
| Age at election | 43 |
| Relationships | Son of J J Pettigrew; married (1968), dissolved (1996); one son, two daughters |
| OtherInfo | John (‘Jack’) Pettigrew was outstanding for the number of new directions of research he initiated in the comparative and developmental physiology of the senses in vertebrates. He was the first to demonstrate that neurons in the striate cortex are selective for binocular disparity. He showed that the binocular visual system of the owl, though very different anatomically, shares many functional and developmental properties with cats and monkeys. He showed that nonvisual (nor-adrenergic) pathways influence the ‘critical period’ for development of binocular neurons in the striate cortex. He demonstrated that owls have an auditory map of sound source location in their midbrains. He was quick to appreciate the ecological and evolutionary significance of these discoveries, each of which has opened up a fertile new area of investigation, and he continued to elucidate new problems in the visual, auditory and somatosensory systems of a wide range of vertebrates.
Professor Jack Pettigrew FRS died on 7 May 2019. |
| Source | Sources:
WWA1998
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pettigrew |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/93290921 |
| Code | NA4656 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1987/29 | Pettigrew, John Douglas: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1986 |