Gregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was born on July 22, 1822,Heinzendorf, Austria (now Hyncice, Czech Republic). He studiedinheritancetraitspea plants, discoveringbasic lawsinheritance. Heoften calledfathergenetics.
During his childhood Mendel worked asgardener, asyoung man attendedOlmutz Philosophical Institute. In 1843 he entered an Augustinian monasteryBrno. He was later sent toUniversityViennastudy.
By both his professors at Universityhis colleagues atmonastery, Mendel was inspiredstudy varianceplants. He commenced his studyhis monastery's experimental garden. Between 18561863 Mendel cultivatedtested some 28,000 pea plants. His experiments brought forth two generalizations which later became known as Mendel's LawsInheritance.
Mendel read his paper, Experiments on Plant Hybridization, at two meetings ofNatural History SocietyBrunnBohemia1865. When Mendel's paper was published1866Proceedings ofNatural History SocietyBrunn,had little impact. It was not untilearly 20th century thatimportancehis ideas was realized. In 1900, his work was finally rediscovered by Hugo de Vries, Carl CorrensErich von Tschermakwas contributorythe modern synthesisevolutionary biology.
Mendel died January 6, 1884Brno, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic).
See also: Trofim Lysenko, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Darwin
Further reading
- Robin Marantz Henig, Monk inGarden: The LostFound GeniusGregor Mendel,FatherGenetics, Houghton Mifflin, May, 2000, hardcover, 292 pages, ISBN 0395977657; trade paperback, Houghton Mifflin, May, 2001, ISBN 0618127410
