Antoine Petit | |
Native Name Lang: | fra |
Birth Date: | 23 July 1722 |
Birth Place: | Orléans (France) |
Death Place: | Olivet (France) |
Fields: | Anatomy, surgery and childbirth |
Workplaces: | Jardin du Roi, University of Paris |
Alma Mater: | University of Paris |
Thesis1 Title: | and |
Thesis2 Title: | )--> |
Thesis1 Url: | and |
Thesis2 Url: | )--> |
Thesis Year: | 1746 |
Known For: | several articles for the Diderot and d'Alembert Encyclopédie |
Spouses: | )--> |
Partners: | )--> |
Antoine Petit (23 July 1722 - 21 October 1794) was a French physician, master of Joseph-Ignace Guillotin and Félix Vicq d'Azyr.
Antoine Petit, born in Orléans, was the son of a tailor.He received a disciplined education and, after studying at the Orléans college, he took up the study of medicine at the University of Paris where he received his doctorate in 1746.[1]
Soon he became a good teacher and lecturer in anatomy, surgery and childbirth.[2]
The accuracy of his diagnosis made him famous and he had a very busy practice, drawing people from every part of France, even from other parts of Europe.[3]
He was appointed anatomy professor at Jardin du Roi from 1769 to 1778. In the University of Paris, he founded a chair of anatomy[4] then a chair of surgery. The professors, engaged and appointed by the University, had to teach for ten years then made way for younger. He was a member of French Academy of Sciences and wrote several articles for the Diderot and d'Alembert Encyclopédie.[5]
Antoine Petit amassed a significant wealth then, because he had no child, spent a part to found places that accord medical treatment. He spent more than 100,000 French livres to Orléans city: he appointed four physicians and two surgeons for free health care for sick people and those in every kind of need, in a house he built in this purpose.[1] On market days, they took care of those from the country.
In the same way, he appointed two lawyers and a prosecutor who involved towards the poor.[6]
In Fontenay-aux-Roses, he donated a building to house the municipality medical officer.
He died in Olivet, on 1794.