Gregor Mendel, born Johann Mendel, was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar.1)
He was born on July 20, 1822, in Heinzendorf, Austria (now Hynčice, Czech Republic).2)
Mendel is often referred to as the “father of modern genetics” for his groundbreaking work on inheritance in pea plants.3)
He conducted his experiments on pea plants between 1856 and 1863 in the garden of the Monastery of St. Thomas in Brno, Czech Republic.4)
Mendel's experiments laid the foundation for the laws of inheritance, which became known as Mendelian genetics.5)
His work remained largely unnoticed until it was rediscovered at the turn of the 20th century.6)
Mendel studied at the University of Vienna, where he initially pursued a degree in physics and later switched to biology.7)
He also studied mathematics under the renowned mathematician Christian Doppler.8)
Mendel's experiments involved carefully controlling the cross-breeding of pea plants with distinct traits, such as height, flower color, and seed texture.9)
He meticulously recorded the traits of each successive generation of pea plants.10)
From his experiments, Mendel formulated two fundamental principles known as the Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment.11)
The Law of Segregation states that alleles (alternative forms of a gene) separate during gamete formation, with each gamete carrying only one allele for each trait.12)
The Law of Independent Assortment states that different traits are inherited independently of each other.13)
Mendel's work challenged prevailing ideas of inheritance at the time, which were largely based on blending inheritance.14)
He published his findings in 1866 in the journal Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brünn.15)