He is remembered for his unsuccessful attempt to prevent the election of the German physician and pathologist Rudolph Virchow to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

After schooling in Anstruther, Joseph Goodsir matriculated at United College, St. Andrews and between 1828 and 1832 he studied for a broad based arts degree.

After graduating and ordination as a Church of Scotland minister he applied for the vacant ministry at Duddingston Kirk, Edinburgh but was unsuccessful.

[3] Goodsir was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) in March 1868, his proposer being the anatomist Sir William Turner.

[6] Later that year the society proposed to award an honorary fellowship to the renowned German physician and pathologist Rudolf Virchow, often referred to as "the father of modern pathology.

His mental health continued to deteriorate with features including, 'religious mania', hallucinations, paranoia and suicidal thoughts.

Harry Duncan Spens Goodsir (1819 – c1847) was a doctor, curator and served as assistant surgeon and naturalist on the Franklin expedition.

Robert Anstruther Goodsir (1823–1895) qualified as a doctor and joined expeditions to the Arctic in 1849 and in 1850 to search for his brother Harry.