Gregor Mendel

Gregor Mendel, born as Johann Mendel, was an Austrian scientist and monk hailed as the “Father of modern genetics” for his pioneering research in the field of heredity. He was a monk in Augustinian Abbey of St Thomas in Brno where he worked as a teacher. He had a deep interest in botany which led him to conduct experiments on pea plants. Inspired by the work of a biologist named Franz Unger, he began his experiments in the monastery’s sprawling gardens. Over the course of his study he observed that there were seven characteristics in the pea plants, and two forms of each characteristic. These characteristics included seed shape and pod shape in addition to plant height and seed colour. Mendel observed that the seven characteristics he had recognized remained consistent over generations in purebred plants. For eight years, he carefully crossbred and grew thousands of pea plants, and patiently analyzed and compared the plants and seeds for difference in colour and size of the seeds, and variations in length of the plants. He took various precautions to prevent the accidental pollination of the flowers which could have altered the results of the experiments. His meticulous study and the resultant observations led to what is today known as Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance.