Јосиф Панчић (1814-1888)

Abstract

Josif (Josip) Pančić was born on April 17, 1814, in the village of Ugrine near Bribir on the Croatian Littoral. Panečić received his elementary and secondary education at Gospić and Rijeka and then enrolled in the College at Zagreb in 1830. Having acquired an interest at an early age for the natural sciences, especially botany and zoology, which at the time were linked with the study of medicine, in 1832 Pančić continued his education at the School of Medicine in Budapest. Here he received an excellent grounding in the fundamental scientific disciplines of the natural sciences with studies of flora, fauna, and the systematics and taxonomy of plants and animals, and in 1842 he earned his degree of doctor of medical sciences with a dissertation on the systematics and taxonomy of plants entitled, Taxilogia botanica. In May of 1846, Josif Pančić moved to Serbia, where he practiced as a physician in Jagodina and Kragujevac until 1853. In addition to his medical practice, he explored his new surroundings, studying the plant and animal world, geological phenomena, and mineral and medicinal springs and spas. In 1853 Pančić was taken on as a professor at the newly formed Department of Natural History and Agronomy at the College in Belgrade. He was asked to lecture on all the subjects of the natural sciences: botany, zoology, mineralogy, geology, and agronomy. For a short time he also taught meteorology and physical geography. Pančić’s research activities covered the entire range of subjects which he taught. Botany was his favourite subject, followed by zoology and geology, where Pančić achieved significant results and laid the foundations for organized research in the natural sciences in Belgrade. Josif Pančić wrote and published 42 research works in the Serbian, German and Latin languages: 28 on the subject of botany (plant taxonomy and systematics), six in the field of zoology, and four on geology, while the rest were popular articles on the natural sciences for the general public. Sixteen works can be categorized as monographs in terms of length, scientific approach and contribution to the advancement of science. These monographs were written according to the scholarly principles accepted by the European school of natural sciences of the day. Special mention should be given to The Flora of the Principality of Serbia (1874) and its Supplement published in 1884, which present descriptions of 2,422 vascular plant species, and to Elenchus Plantarum Vascularium Quae Aestate A. 1873 in Crna Gora Dr. J. Paneic, describing 1,298 plant species native to Montenegro. In the monograph Material for the Flora of the Principality of Bulgaria (1883), followed by New Material in 1886, Pančić presented studies of 1,376 plant species growing in the territory of neighbouring Bulgaria. In Eine Neue Conifere in der Oestlichen Alpen (1876) and The Omorica — a New Species of Conifer in Serbia (1883), Pan6ie informed the world about his great scientific discovery in Serbia of the relict endemic evergreen woody plant species which he named Picea omorika (Pane Purk. In the course of his successful forty-year-long career studying the plant world in Serbia and neighbouring countries, Josif Pančić made an exceptional scientific contribution by discovering 121 new plant species, 50 new plant varieties, and seven new plant forms. Of the 121 new species noted by Josif Pančić, 46 have remained systematized as such in all modern-day textbooks on flora. Pančić’s monographs on zoology also remain seminal works. Of special note are Fish in Serbia (1860), Birds in Serbia (1867), and Orthoptera in Serbia (1883). Pančić prepared three textbooks for his students: Zoology (1864), Mineralogy and Geology (1866), and Botany (1868). He included in these textbooks the findings from his own research carried out in Serbia. An advocate of audio-visual aids in the teaching of the natural sciences, Pančić set up the natural sciences laboratory with extensive collections and founded Belgrade's first Botanical Gardens. Josif Pančić served as president of the Belgrade College for six terms of office, in addition to his public service activities in the highest state institutions. When the Serbian Royal Academy was founded on November 1, 1886, Josif Pančić was named its first president. Josif Pančić died in Belgrade on March 8, 1888.