Jack Pettigrew

Who is Jack Pettigrew?

John Douglas Pettigrew is Emeritus Professor of Physiology and Director of the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Professor Pettigrew's research interest is in comparative neuroscience. He has studied a variety of different birds and mammals with modern neural tracing techniques to unravel principles of brain organization. He was the chief proponent of the Flying primates theory, which was based on the similarity between the brains of megabats and primates. Special emphasis is placed on the visual, auditory and somatosensory systems.

Professor Pettigrew was the first person to clarify the neurobiological basis of stereopsis when he described neurones sensitive to binocular disparity. His recent studies indicate a role for non-visual pathways in the phenomenon of developmental plasticity during the postnatal "critical period". He discovered that owls have independently evolved a system of binocular neurones like those found in mammals. Recent work uses binocular rivalry as an assay for interhemispheric switching, whose rhythm is altered in bipolar disorder. His scientific work was recognized by several honours and awards, including becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and the Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to Australian society and science in phylogeny.