About Jovan Ristić
Jovan Ristić (Serbian Cyrillic: Јован Ристић; 16 January 1831 – 4 September 1899) was a Serbian politician, diplomat and historian. == Biography == Ristić was born in Kragujevac in a poor family where he attended elementary school. In 1842 he entered high school in Belgrade, and in 1847 the lyceum, where he studied until spring of 1849. As a high school student, Ristić participated in the Serbian movement in Hungary in 1848. He went to study in Germany as a state cadet, where he was s student at the University of Berlin under historian Leopold von Ranke. In 1852 Ristić obtained a doctorate degree from Heidelberg University, after which he went to Paris in where he was until 1854, studying French and attending courses at the Sorbonne University and examining old Serbian manuscripts at the National Library of France upon the invitation of the Society of Serbian Literature. Upon his return to Belgrade Ristić failed to obtain a professorship at Belgrade's Grandes écoles, he received a position in the Ministry of Education, from where he was later transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he held various positions from a protocol clerk to a department head. == Diplomatic and political career == He was appointed in 1861 Serbian diplomatic agent at Constantinople. On his return from Constantinople, his brilliant intellectual qualities attracted the attention of the government. He soon became known as the most competent of the government officials.
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