Josif Pančić (Serbian Cyrillic: Јосиф Панчић; April 17, 1814 – February 25, 1888) was a Serbianbotanist, a doctor of medicine, a lecturer at the Great School (the future University of Belgrade), and the first president of the Serbian Royal Academy.[1] He extensively documented the flora of Serbia, and is credited with having classified many species of plants which were unknown to the botanical community at that time.[2] Pančić is credited with discovering the Serbian spruce. He is regarded as the father of Serbian botany.[3]
After finishing elementary school in Gospić, he went on to the lyceuminRijeka, and then continued classes in the Regia Academica ScientiaruminZagreb (1830). He graduated in 1842 in Budapestinmedicine. In addition to other courses, Pančić attended botany courses, taught by the then renowned botany professor, Joseph Sadler (Sadler József).[6] Later, recalling those early lectures, he wrote:[3]
And since the first course in botany I started to love botany and decided to become a botanist, so I started to botanize excitedly and to collect plants around Pest and Buda,...
While studying about botany at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Pančić became acquainted with the Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić who wrote him a letter of recommendation to the Serbian authorities, in order to fulfill his wish to settle in the Principality of Serbia to study Nature.[7] In May 1846, he arrived in Serbia where for the first seven years he worked as a physician in rural area. In 1847, he asked to be released from his Austrian citizenship and applied for Serbian citizenship, the same year he met his future wife Lyudmila Mileva.[8]
He later became rector of the Great School (the future University of Belgrade) and the founder of the Institutes of Mineralogy and Geology, Zoologial and Botanical Departments and of the experimental botanical gardens in Belgrade.[9]
Pančić extensively documented the flora of Serbia and is credited with having classified many species of plants that were unknown to the botanical community at the time. He discovered a total of 47 valid species new to science.[11] The crowning achievement of Pančić floristic studies was the "Flora of the Principality of Serbia" (Flora Kneževine Srbije) published in 1874, while a supplement was added ten years later. His explorations marked the golden age of Serbia's botany.[11]
His most significant discovery was the Serbian Spruce,[12] which he discovered near Zaovine on the Tara Mountain in 1875. He firmly established Serbian botany among European sciences. He ascertained that Serbia's flora was rich and worthy of further studies.[11] During the Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–1878), he was the Chief Physician of the Belgrade Hospital.
He is said to have "fallen in love" with Kopaonik, which he visited 16 times between 1851 and 1886.[13] Pančić was named the first president of the Serbian Royal Academy formed on April 5, 1887. He requested the opening of the Botanical garden "Jevremovac" in Belgrade.[14] Pančić died on 25 February 1888, his last wish was to be buried in the Kopaonik Mountain.[15]
Amausoleum of Josif Pančić was erected at the highest peak of Kopaonik in 1951 by the Academy of Science, the University of Belgrade and the Hiking club,[16] with the inscription:
Honoring Pančić's request, we moved him here to rest forever. Here is his message to the Serbian youth: "Only with a thorough understanding and analysis of the nature of our country will they show how much they love and honor their homeland".
^Josif Pančić, Budislav Tatič, Božidar P. M. Ćurčić (1998). Sabrana dela Josifa Pančića: Život i delo Josifa Pančića. Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva. p. 13. Проф. др Љубиша М. Глишић ЖИВОТ И РАД ВЕЛИКОГ НАУЧНИКА И РОДОЉУБА др ЈОСИФА ПАНЧИЋА Према предању, Панчићи су пореклом из Херцеговине и од давнина су се доселили у село Угрине, које се налази на ...{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Nikola Diklić. "Josif Pančić"(PDF). Lives and Work of the Serbian Scientists. 1: 3–61. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2015-06-21. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
