Gregor Mendel
"Founded science of genetics"
Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian priest and scientist, who
gained posthumous fame as the figurehead of the new science of
genetics for his study of the inheritance of certain traits in pea
plants. Mendel showed that the inheritance of these traits follows
particular laws, which were later named after him. The significance
of Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th
century. The independent rediscovery of these laws formed the
foundation of the modern science of genetics.
Mendel's attraction to research was based on his love of nature.
He was not only interested in plants, but also in meteorology and
theories of evolution. Mendel often wondered how plants obtained
atypical characteristics. On one of his frequent walks around the
monastery, he found an atypical variety of an ornamental plant. He
took it and planted it next to the typical variety. He grew their
progeny side by side to see if there would be any approximation of
the traits passed on to the next generation. This experiment was
"designed to support or to illustrate Lamarck's views concerning
the influence of environment upon plants." He found that the
plants' respective offspring retained the essential traits of the
parents, and therefore were not influenced by the environment.
This simple test gave birth to the idea of heredity.
Mendel's research reflected his personality. Once he crossed
peas and mice of different varieties "for the fun of the thing,"
and the phenomena of dominance and segregation "forced themselves
upon notice." He saw that the traits were inherited in certain
numerical ratios. He then came up with the idea of dominance and
segregation of genes and set out to test it in peas. It took seven
years to cross and score the plants to the thousand to prove the
laws of inheritance! From his studies, Mendel derived certain basic
laws of heredity: hereditary factors do not combine, but are passed
intact; each member of the parental generation transmits only half
of its hereditary factors to each offspring (with certain factors
"dominant" over others); and different offspring of the same
parents receive different sets of hereditary factors. Mendel's work
became the foundation for modern genetics.
The impact of genetic theory is no longer questioned in anyone's
mind. Many diseases are known to be inherited, and pedigrees are
typically traced to determine the probability of passing along an
hereditary disease. Plants are now designed in laboratories to
exhibit desired characteristics. The practical result of Mendel's
research is that it not only changed the way we perceive the world,
but also the way we live in it.