Matija Mesi was a student of multiple areas of study, was a part of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, and warned others about the importance of modern university.
Matija Mesic (Brod na Savi, February 19, 1826  Zagreb, December 5, 1878) was a Croatian historian, university professor, the first rector of the University of Zagreb. He graduated philosophy at the Royal Academy of Science in 1844, and theology at the Vienna Pazmaneum in 1848. In the period 18511853 he studied history and geography in Vienna and Prague. He received a professorship at the Law Academy in Zagreb in 1854, working as a director of the same institution since 1871. He was a full member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1867. In the opening ceremony, on the October 19th 1874, he held his famous speech in which he warned on the importance of modern university. 
