Who is Gregor Mendel?

Johann Gregor Mendel, universally known as the "Father of Genetics," was born on 20 July 1822 in Heinzendorf, then part of Austria but now belonging to the Czech Republic. The only son of a hardworking peasant family, Gregor Mendel worked as a gardener during childhood, but eventually decided to abandon public life and enter the Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas, where he was ordained as a priest in 1847.

After a period of overseas study and research, Gregor Mendel returned to St. Thomas to teach physics. It was there that Gregor Mendel was inspired to study genetic variation and hybridization by combining and breeding different kinds of pea plants. His experiments led to discoveries which are now called "Mendel's Laws of Inheritance."

In his research, Gregor Mendel discovered that offspring inherit two genes, one from the mother and one from the father. If these two genes are different, then the offspring takes on the dominant gene, and the recessive gene produces no visible result. Gregor Mendel estimated that this process, later known as "Mendel's Law of Segregation," could be applied to all species, including humans.
Mendel's passion for science and mathematics led to the combination of different sciences to study biological quandaries. Gregor Mendel is also well known for first applying the methods of statistical investigation to biological sciences. In 1866, when he published his work in Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brunn it was met with skepticism. Scientists didn't believe that Mendel's research had much relevance outside of the plant kingdom, and so it was largely ignored and seldom cited.

Gregor Mendel eventually abandoned his scientific pursuits to concentrate on the administrative responsibilities of the abbacy over which he presided. He died on 6 January 1884 from chronic nephritis. His work in genetics was not largely recognized during his lifetime, and he died without knowing the extent of the impact his research would have in future generations.

Almost fifteen years later, the work of Gregor Mendel was rediscovered by three European biologists investigating the laws of genetics. Highly disputed at first, Mendel's work eventually became the basis for all major genetic discoveries over the next century. Ironically, it was Mendel's main opponent, William Bateson, a British geneticist, who coined the word "genetics."