He excelled in high school showing advanced analytic abilities in physics and mathematics.

On November 29, 1982, he moved as a faculty to the newly established Department of Physics of the University of Crete, where he advanced through the ranks becoming full professor in 1987.

He served as a Chairman of department from 1987 until his murder[5] on the evening of November 27, 1990, shot together with his colleague Stephanos Pnevmatikos[6] while giving a seminar by a 32-year-old disgruntled mentally unstable named Giorgos Petrodaskalakis (who later committed suicide).

[7] Xanthopoulos contributed in a number of areas of mathematical physics and general theory of relativity.

[10] The appreciation on the contributions of Basilis Xanthopoulos to science and education is reflected by a number of events in his memory: On April 8, 2021, on the occasion of the 70 years since his birth, the Department of Physics of the University of Crete and the Institute of Astrophysics of FORTH made available online his personal archive in a dedicated web page.