A father of one of his pupils who he tutored privately advised him to enroll at the Great Artillery School in Vienna, where some of the best professors in mathematics in the Habsburg Empire were tenured at the time.

His first task was to write a textbook for the students, which he ardently set about doing, trying to translate mathematical terminology from Latin into vernacular Serbian.

Atanasije Nikolić left a vivid trace in the Principality of Serbia in all areas of life, including in the field of civil engineering and geodesy at the university level back in 1846.

The founder and first bandmaster of the Court Military Band was Josif Schlesinger (1794–1870), a native of the Vojvodina, a part of the Habsburg Empire with a high population of ethnic Serbs.

[6] The main people behind the establishment of the Theatre on Đumruk in Belgrade were Jovan Sterija Popović, Josif Schlesinger, Atanasije Nikolić, and others who happily volunteered their time to make the theatrical productions a success.