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You are here: Home / Science / Who Was Gregor Mendel and How Did Gregor Mendel Discover the Science of Genetics?

Who Was Gregor Mendel and How Did Gregor Mendel Discover the Science of Genetics?

May 10, 2020 by Karen Hill

In one way, the science of genetics, the study of how heredity works, is among the oldest sciences.

For many centuries, man controlled the mating of domestic plants and animals to produce desired traits.

Warriors needed speed in their horses so they would breed the fastest runners. Farmers would breed the strongest oxen to produce stronger offspring.

In another way, it is one of the newest sciences because it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that a scientific method of predicting the offspring of two particular parents was discovered.

The man who discovered these laws of heredity probably had the most unusual career of any of the great scientists.

Gregor Johann Mendel was born to peasant parents in Heinzendorf, Austria (now Hyndce, Czech Republic), in 1822.

He helped his parents with farming and had the usual simple education of a peasant boy. His father sold his farm to help Mendel get a college education, but he was still not trained for any kind of career.

It seemed to Mendel that the only way to avoid his parents’ poverty was to enter the nearby monastery at Briinn (now Brno) in 1843.

Mendel led the quiet life of a monk, teaching science to the local students and tending the monastery’s botanical garden, until 1851, when the monastery sent him to the University of Vienna for two years to study natural sciences and mathematics.

When he returned to the monastery, his gardening hobby had become a scientific curiosity. How did heredity work? Was there a way to predict the results of crossbreeding?

In 1856, he started breeding experiments on garden peas. Nine years and 28,000 pea plants later, he had unlocked the secrets of heredity.

Mendel was born Johann Mendel but assumed the name Gregor in honor of Saint Gregory when he entered the monastery in Briinn.

Related Facts

  • What Genetic Experiments Did Gregor Mendel Conduct and Why Did Mendel Study Inheritance In Pea Plants?
  • What Are Gregor Mendel’s Laws of Heredity and When Was the Significance of Mendel’s Work Rediscovered?
  • Who Discovered Heredity and How does Heredity pass traits and characteristics from one generation to the next?
  • What Was the Reaction To Gregor Mendel’s Discovery In Genetics When His Paper Was Published In 1866?
  • How Were Gregor Mendel’s Laws of Heredity Simultaneously Rediscovered In 1900 By Three Scientists?
  • Who Discovered the Function of Chromosomes and What is the relationship between Chromosomes and Genes?

Filed Under: Science

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How Did Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory Originate and How Did He Discover the Process of Pasteurization?
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