The Faculty of Biology of the University of Belgrade celebrated its 170th anniversary in 2023.
The Faculty of Biology is the oldest and largest higher education and scientific institution in Serbia in the field of biology, molecular biology, physiology, ecology and environmental protection. The beginning of higher education in the field of biology in Serbia dates back to 1838, when the Lyceum in Kragujevac was founded, or to 1853, when the Knjaževo-Serbian Lyceum in Belgrade was founded, where, among other disciplines, botany and zoology were studied within the Department of Natural Sciences and Technology. With the Lyceum's transformation into a Higher School in 1863, university teaching in biology first took place at the Faculty of Technology, and since 1873 at the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the Faculty of Philosophy, within the Department of Botany and Zoology and the Physiological Cabinet.
During this period, the Botanical Garden was founded, first on the banks of the Danube, and in 1889 at its current location, on an estate donated by King Milan Obrenović to the Great School, on the condition that it be called "Jevremovac". The Botanical Institute, today the Institute of Botany, moved to the Botanical Garden in 1898, where it is still located today.
After World War II, in 1947, the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the Faculty of Philosophy became an independent Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and the Botanical Institute with the Botanical Garden, the Zoological Institute and the Physiological Institute with their departments became organizational units of the Department of Biological Sciences. In 1988, the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics was transformed into the Faculties of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, so that in 1990 the Department of Biological Sciences became the Faculty of Biology. Finally, in 1995, the Faculty of Biology, like other faculties within the community of Faculties of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, became an independent faculty within the University of Belgrade.
Throughout its long history, the greats of biology, such as Josif Pančić, Ivan Đaja, Sinisa Stanković, Živojin Đorđević, Dušan Kanazir and many others, were the founders of Belgrade schools recognizable in our country and around the world: zoology, botany, physiology, ecology, molecular biology and others, and their direct or indirect students, teachers of the Faculty of Biology, have contributed and continue to contribute to the development of biology in our country and its transformation into the promising multidisciplinary science that it is today.
