Maria Petrou
Also known as Μαρία Πέτρου
Maria Petrou, born in Thessaloniki, Greece, built a career in image processing. Her trace transform, a method for encoding image information regardless of scaling or rotation, was important in the development of face-recognition systems. After a physics degree in Thessaloniki and a Cambridge doctorate, she switched to image processing in 1986. In 1998 she became professor of image analysis at the University of Surrey, and in 2005 she moved to a chair of signal processing at Imperial College London. From 2009 she directed the Informatics and Telematics Institute of CERTH in Thessaloniki, and she died of cancer in 2012, aged 59.
Timeline
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1953–1975
A physics degree in Thessaloniki
She is born in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1953 and graduates in physics there in 1975.
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1981–1983
A Cambridge doctorate
She gains a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1981. In 1983 she begins postdoctoral work at Oxford University.
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1986
Switching to image processing
She decides in 1986 to switch from science to engineering and takes a postdoctoral post in image processing.
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1988–1998
Rising to professor at Surrey
She joins the University of Surrey in 1988 and becomes professor of image analysis there in 1998. Her trace transform encodes image information regardless of scaling or rotation, a technique important in face-recognition systems.
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1999
A Wiley book on image processing
Her Wiley book Image Processing: The fundamentals is originally published in 1999, and it is reprinted several times.
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2000–2004
IAPR and Royal Academy fellowships
The IAPR elects her a Fellow in 2000, and the Royal Academy of Engineering elects her in 2004.
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2005–2012
Imperial chair, then Thessaloniki
She leaves Surrey in 2005 for a chair in signal processing at Imperial College London. In 2009 she becomes director of the Informatics and Telematics Institute of CERTH in Thessaloniki.
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October 2012
Death from cancer at 59
She dies of cancer in 2012, at the age of 59.
Sources and credits
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- Maria Petrou - Wikipedia
- In Memoriam: Maria Petrou
- Obituary of Maria Petrou (1953-2012) - Physics Today
- Chronological List of IAPR Fellows – International Association for Pattern Recognition
- In Memoriam – Dr. Maria Petrou – International Association for Pattern Recognition
- Maria Petrou obituary | Technology | The Guardian