 He was a student of Henri Poincaré, Paul Painlevé, Charles Hermite and Émile Picard.Petrović contributed significantly to the study of differential equations and phenomenology, founded Engineering mathematics in Serbia, and invented one of the first prototypes of a hydraulic analog computer.Petrović was born on 6 May 1868, in Belgrade, as the first child of Nikodim, a professor of theology, and Milica (née Lazarević).