Gregor Mandel
"The father of Genetics"
Facts on Mandel
- Johann Mendel was born in Heinzendorf bei Odrau in Moravia, on July 20, 1822
- From 1840 to 1843 he studied philosophy and physics at the University of Olomouc Faculty of Philosophy.
- He joined the Augustinian Friars and took the name Gregor. Furthermore, he became a priest and also was a high school teacher.
- Was an Australian Monk who studied mathematics and science and became a gardener at his monastery.
- His interests in plants goes back to him as a boy in his father's orchard where he could predict the possible types of flowers and fruits that would result from crossbreeding two plants.
- In 1856, he was experimenting with two types of pea plants in his garden and would record the traits that were being passed from one generation to the next.
- Mandel was the first to trace one trait through several generations . We now call these genes. He was also the first to use mathematics of probability to explain heredity.
- He was able to realized that traits can skip a generation – lost traits could appear again in another generation, he called these recessive traits.
- Between 1856 and 1863 he grew and tested about 29,000 pea plants in his monastery garden.
- Furthermore, he recognized the fact that successive and dominate traits are passed from parents to their off springs.
- Mendel also experimented with honeybees and hawkweed but results of these studies have not survived.
- Mandel died on January 6, 1884
His Contributions to the field of Genetics
Through his experiments on pea plants he discovered the fundamental laws of inheritance. He was able to discover that genes come in pairs and are inherited from each parent. His laws of heredity are stated as:
1) The Law of Segregation- Off springs inherit one genetic allele from each parent when sex cells combine in the fertilization stage.
2) The Law of Independent Assortment- the inheritance of one trait isn't dependent on the inheritance of another.
3) The Law of Dominance- Organisms alternate forms of genes will express that form as dominant.
Mendel’s discovery made a great impact in 1900, 16 years after his death, and 34 years after he first published his theory.
1) The Law of Segregation- Off springs inherit one genetic allele from each parent when sex cells combine in the fertilization stage.
2) The Law of Independent Assortment- the inheritance of one trait isn't dependent on the inheritance of another.
3) The Law of Dominance- Organisms alternate forms of genes will express that form as dominant.
Mendel’s discovery made a great impact in 1900, 16 years after his death, and 34 years after he first published his theory.