It was during his studies at the University of Budapest, where he was inspired by lectures and it was there that he determined to devote himself to natural science, mathematics, physics and astronomy.

Mainly through the influence of Dositej Obradović he turned his attention to literature and science, and during the years 1801 and 1804 made a special study of astronomy.

He was already acquainted with Pierre Charles Le Monnier and his son-in-law, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, a member of the French Academy of Sciences, which had become part of the Institut de France (1795) and through their work in astronomy Stojković decided to make Meteor Science his life's work.

As a member of the newly instituted commission of education at the new university, he rendered invaluable service to his adopted country (Imperial Russia) for the next several years.

In Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, where the Tunguska event took place on 30 June 1908, a hill is named after Atanasije Stojković.

Teodor Pavlović (1804–1854) wrote and published a detailed biography of Atanasije Stojković titled Russian Emperor's Governmental Counselor.

However, its status as a novel has been disputed, as its narrative content is underdeveloped: the majority of the text is occupied by a monologue, interspersed with poems, and expressing concepts heavily influenced by Immanuel Kant's philosophy.

[12] Stojković's following novel, Aristid and Natalija (1801), was more conventional, and is regarded as one of the central texts of Serbian literary sentimentalism.

[14][15] In his literary works he used the Slavonic-Serbian language and belongs to a group of authors who brought the German version of the Enlightenment to Serbs.