Gregor Mendel
Founder of Genetics
Introduction
Gregor Mendel was a botanist that discovered more about traits and heredity in the late 1800's using pea plants.
Early Years
He was a talented student that went to a boarding school in Opava. His parents were poor farmers that couldn't afford to send him to school so he had to tutor students for money.
Experimental Design
Gregor Mendel tested heredity on Pea plants. He mixed different types of the plant together, like green and yellow, or tall and short.
Scientists didn’t believe him and thought his research was already what they knew.
Data
When he mixed yellow and green plants he always made yellow but when he took the yellow he made and mixed those he got yellow with a occasional green.
Foundation
Gregor Mendel published his findings in the Natural Science Society's journal. 35 years later people read his work and learned more about genetics. He was the first to try and discover parental genes.
Vocabulary
Dominant
Definition: relating to or denoting heritable characteristics that are controlled by genes that are expressed in offspring even when inherited from only one parent.
Example: Brown eyes
Recessive
Definition: relating to or denoting heritable characteristics controlled by genes that are expressed in offspring only when inherited from both parents, i.e., when not masked by a dominant characteristic inherited from one parent.
Example: Blue eyes
CoDominant
Definition: Gene that is neither dominant or recessive.