Popowitsch was familiar with 15 languages and his research interests included philology, botany, pomology, entomology, geophysics, oceanography, archaeology, history, and numismatics.

Popowitsch traveled extensively in German and Italian lands, gaining first-hand experience on dialect continua and language mixing.

He was appointed the professor of German at the University of Vienna from 1753 to 1766, being preferred over Johann Christoph Gottsched[3] by Maria Theresia and her advisors.

[1][2] He died in Perchtoldsdorf, at which point Vienna's Gottschedians ensured to minimize Popowitsch's linguistic legacy.

[4] He was characterized by Jernej Kopitar as the "greatest scholar of his time in Austria, a praiseworthy philologist and natural scientist.