The first and the oldest

First Serbian Minister of Education:
Dositej Obradović (1742 1811)

There are few details of Dosite's biography that are unknown to the general public. It is difficult to find a person in modern Serbian history who contributed more to the enlightenment of Serbs, both through educational institutions and in other ways.

In place of the tribal and religious understanding of the nation, Dositheus established a new and modern one. Demolition of the old and propagation of the new is the main characteristic of his contribution to literature and culture. Until him, literature was of a local, tribal or religious character, written in the provincial dialect or language of the respective religion. Dositej was the first to consciously create true national literature in the pure vernacular, intended for the broadest strata of the Serbian people. Before him, literature was exclusively worked on by church people for church needs. He breaks with tradition and begins to introduce into the people advanced ideas from the West, what he learned and received from the rationalist philosophy of the 18th century. His knowledge was extensive and varied: he passed through the spiritual influence of religious mysticism, Russian dogmatic literature, Greek church reformers, German Protestantism, and French and English rationalism. He buys and processes great truths, instructive and beautiful thoughts from all times and from all peoples, from Plato and Aristotle to Labriere, Moliere, Lessing and Voltaire. As a convinced supporter of rationalist philosophy, Dositheus believes in the omnipotence of reason and emphasizes science above all else. Making science and philosophy accessible to all people, including those in the most remote villages, is his highest principle. All his works are mainly collections of translated and reworked "various instructive things", from "everything a little but nice", as he says.

Dossite's first printed work, "The Courtesy of Charalampia," was printed in Leipzig as a call for subscriptions to "Soviets of Common Sense." It is his famous program letter, where his basic ideas are presented in the form of a manifesto: that he intends to print a book for the people in a simple vernacular language for simple peasants.

As a practical thinker and public teacher, he considers science and literature only as a means to develop "philanthropy and good character" in a person, everything boils down to the education of the youth and considers "that thing the most necessary and most useful for a person in the world". When he talks about education, Dositei does not mean the education of only male children, but also of female children. Instead of the Eastern and patriarchal understanding of women's role in society, he sets up a new understanding in the spirit of Western rationalist philosophy: he demands that female children learn not only reading and writing, but all knowledge available to men.

In the last year of his life, he became the first Serbian Minister of Education. He was also the director of all schools in Uprising Serbia, and as a member of the Soviet he participated in the drafting of all laws.

First President of SANU:
Josif Pancic (1814 1888)

After primary and secondary education in Gospić and Rijeka, in 1830 he moved to Zagreb to continue his education at the Regia Academica Scientiarum high school. In contact with some Hungarians, he found out that there was a Faculty of Medicine in Pest, which at that time also taught natural sciences. He became a doctor of medicine on September 7, 1842, having produced the thesis Taxilogia botanica. He spent two years in Ruksberg in Banat, where he was also involved in raising the children of the owners of the Hoffman mines there. From there, he headed to Vienna to complete the assignment of his herbarium. While staying in Vienna, he met Vuk Karadžić, who sent him to Serbia to join the civil service. He arrived in Serbia in May 1846 during the reign of Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević and was met with a very bad reception.

He almost completely lost his livelihood and thought of returning, but he was prevented from doing so by the invitation of Avram Petronijević, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to take a temporary job as a doctor in Jagodina and to work on suppressing the typhoid infection, which was spreading among factory workers. In February 1847, he was appointed contractual physician and physicist of the Jagodina district. In the same year, he requested release from the Austro-Hungarian vassalage and acceptance into the Serbian vassalage. At the end of the same year, he was transferred to Kragujevac and was appointed to the vacant position of temporary district physicist on November 12, 1847.

Next, on January 1850, 8, he was admitted to the Society of Serbian Literature (forerunner of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts), and in 1853 he was appointed a professor of natural sciences at the Lyceum, first as a contract professor, and in 1854 as a full professor. At that time, he did not have any published scientific work. He was appointed as a professor only on the basis of the knowledge and belief that he is the best connoisseur of the flora of Serbia.

In 1855, Pančić heard for the first time that there is a special type of conifer in Western Serbia - spruce. Ten years later he received two of her branches. Another ten years had to pass before he found a previously unknown conifer on Mount Tara, in the hamlet of Đurići, on August 1, 1877 (according to some sources, in 1875), which was named Pančić's spruce after him. During his many years of work, he discovered 102 and described about 2500 plant species. Pančić stayed at the Lyceum and later at the Great School for the rest of his life.

The first rector of the Lyceum in Kragujevac (forerunner of Belgrade University):
Atanasije Nikolic (1803 1882)

He is the first rector of the Lyceum in Kragujevac, the first writer of Serbian algebra and geometry textbooks, the first educated Serbian engineer and the initiator of engineering education in Serbia. He was the first builder of modern roads and the designer of the first railway route, he was the first reformer of Serbian agriculture and the founder of the first agricultural school, together with Jovan Sterija Popović he initiated the establishment of the Society of Serbian Literature and the National Library, he started the celebration of St. Sava in schools. He was an associate and confidant of Prince Mihailo Obrenović and Ilija Garašanin. He wrote plays, agricultural lessons, textbooks, literary plays, and collected folk tales.

He started working as the first rector of the Lyceum on October 3, 1839 and taught mathematics at the Lyceum until the end of October 1842, when the dynasties on the Serbian throne changed.

Atanasije Nikolić wrote the first mathematics textbooks for the Lyceum, namely:

Algebra organized for the use of students of philosophy at the Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia, 149 pages, appeared on September 26, 1839.

Elementary geometry organized for the benefit of students of philosophy at the Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia, published in 1841.

At his suggestion, Savindan was established as a school slava in Serbia in 1840. He became a regular member of the Society of Serbian Literature on May 27, 1842, and was secretary of the Society in 1842/43.