Alexandre Petrovic (1925 – November 22, 2003) was a scientist who is known for formulating the Cybernetic Theory of Craniofacial Growth in 1977.

Life

Alex was born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Serbia. His father was a Serbian physician who at that time was doing his post-graduate training in surgery at

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

School of Medicine. After birth, Alex's mother and him joined their father in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

where they lived for about 10 years before returning to Belgrade. Petrovic obtained his Medical degree in 1954, did his speciality in hematology in 1957 and his Doctorate in 1961. He completed his a postdoctoral fellowship at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in 1962 under

Charles Philippe Leblond Charles Philippe Leblond (February 5, 1910 – April 10, 2007) was a pioneer of cell biology and stem cell research and a Canadian former professor of anatomy. Leblond is notable for developing autoradiography and his work showing how cells ...

autoradiography An autoradiograph is an image on an X-ray film or nuclear emulsion produced by the pattern of decay emissions (e.g., beta particles or gamma rays) from a distribution of a radioactive substance. Alternatively, the autoradiograph is also availab ...

, later influencing his methodologies on determining skeletal growth. He was a professor of physiology and physiopathology at

Louis Pasteur University Louis Pasteur University (, ULP), also known as Strasbourg I, was a large university in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. As of 15 January 2007, there were 18,847 students enrolled at the university, including around 3,000 foreign students. Researc ...

. He also served as a visiting professor at Department of Orthodontics at Louisiana State University School of Dentistry where he taught craniofacial biology and research methodology.

Career

He was the founder and long time director of Research Laboratory for Craniofacial Cartilage and Bone Growth Center. He also helmed the directorship for

French Institute of Health and Medical Research The (Inserm, ) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health. Inserm is the only public research institution ...

. Dr. Petrovic is known for developing a cybernetic model of growth to help understand how the facial growth takes places through the different control processes. Dr. Petrovic was first introduced to American Orthodontic community at Moyer's Growth Symposium at

University of Michigan School of Dentistry The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is the dental school of the University of Michigan, a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established in 1875, the School of Dentistry engages in oral and craniofacial health ...

. Dr. Petrovic's lab was known to introduce orthodontics to the following ideas * In 1967, he demonstrated that amount and growth rate of the cartilage in condyle can be changed due to the Orthopedic forces * Growth categorization of the human tissue level growth can be used as a predictor of jaw growth and treatment outcome when coupled with cephalometric analysis.

References

Orthodontists 1925 births 2003 deaths 20th-century dentists {{US-med-bio-stub