[2][3] Mohorovičić was born in Volosko, Opatija, where his father (also named Andrija), was a blacksmith, making anchors.

He received his higher education in mathematics and physics at the Faculty of Philosophy in Prague in 1875, where one of his professors was Ernst Mach.

At his own request in 1891, he was transferred to the secondary school in Zagreb where, in 1892, he soon became a head of the Meteorological Observatory in Grič and established a service for all Croatia, while teaching geophysics and astronomy at the university.

Mohorovičić was the first person to describe atmospheric rotors with a horizontal axis, which he observed during bora-wind episodes in the northern Adriatic.

According to Mohorovičić, a layered structure would explain the observation of depths where seismic waves change speed and the difference in chemical composition between rocks from the crust and those from the mantle.

[8][9] He developed a method for determining earthquake epicenters[10] and constructed curves giving the travel-times of seismic waves over distances of up to 10,000 miles from their source.

[11][12] He also proposed the construction of a new type of seismograph for recording ground horizontal movement, but due to lack of funds the project was never realized.

[13] As early as 1909 Mohorovičić started giving lectures recommending standards that both architects and building contractors should follow - he was ahead of his time in setting some of the basic principles of earthquake-resistant design.