[1] He extensively documented the flora of Serbia, and is credited with having classified many species of plants which were unknown to the botanical community at that time.

His paternal grandfather, who came from the area around Niš, had served in a volunteer battalion of the Austrian Imperial Army during the Austro-Turkish War.

[6] After finishing elementary school in Gospić, he went on to the lyceum in Rijeka, and then continued classes in the Regia Academica Scientiarum in Zagreb (1830).

[7] Later, recalling those early lectures, he wrote:[3] And since the first course in botany I started to love botany and decided to become a botanist, so I started to botanize excitedly and to collect plants around Pest and Buda,...While studying about botany at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Pančić became acquainted with the Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić who wrote him a letter of recommendation to the Serbian authorities, in order to fulfill his wish to settle in the Principality of Serbia to study Nature.

[9] In 1853, he moved from Kragujevac to Belgrade when he was first appointed adjunct professor at Belgrade Lyceum's Department of Natural History and Agronomy by decree of Prince Alexander Karadjordjević, before becoming a full-time professor of Natural History and Agriculture in 1854, as decreed by the Ministry of Education of the Principality of Serbia.

[10] Pančić extensively documented the flora of Serbia and is credited with having classified many species of plants that were unknown to the botanical community at the time.

Here is his message to the Serbian youth: "Only with a thorough understanding and analysis of the nature of our country will they show how much they love and honor their homeland".A research society has been named after him, Josif Pančić Biological Research Society (Biološko istraživačko društvo "Josif Pančić").