Gregor Mendel Biography

Gregor Mendel was a mathematician, biologist and meteorologist. He made remarkable discoveries in the domain of biology specifically in the field of genetics. Due to his prominent contributions and groundbreaking works he is also known as the “father of genetics”. He studied the nature of heredity and through mathematical explanation he established the nature of genetic inheritance. His laws are famously called the Mendels law of Genetics, these laws are considered as the basic framework of genetics in modern biology. Gregor Mendel was born on 20 July 1822 in Austria. Although he is known for his experimental work in the field of science, he was a monk and he was titled as abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brno, Margraviate of Moravia. 

Gregor Mendel Life History

The life history of Gregor Mendel, the pioneer of genetics is rather interesting. He was born in the 18th century, on 20 July 1822. He was born in a family of farmers, his parents Anton and Rosine lived in the Hynčice, at the Moravian-Silesian border, Austrian Empire. He was born into a family that primarily spoke German. He had 2 siblings called Veronika and Theresia. Veronika was the older sister and Theresa was the younger sister. His parents worked on their family farm, which they owned for about 130 years. During his early childhood, he worked in his family as a farmer and beekeeper. This education in farming helped him a great deal later in his when he was experimenting to study the nature of inheritance.

Although he spent his early years of life in his hometown with his family, at the age of 11 due to his aptitude for learning, he was recommended by the local schoolmaster that he be sent to secondary school in Troppau to continue his education. This move had a financial impact on the family. The younger sister Theresia was particularly very supportive of his studies. She spent her dowry money to make allowance for Mendel’s studies. Later in life after completing Mendel helped his nephews, children of his sister to gain an education. Two of his nephews grew up to become doctors.

Mendel has an extraordinary aptitude for learning new things but he constantly suffered from health issues which caused him to lag in course. He studied practical and theoretical philosophy and physics at the Philosophical Institute of the University of Olomouc from 1840 to 1843. During this time also had to take a year off because of his health issues. He was particularly skilled in subjects of physics and math and tutored in his spare time to make ends meet.

He soon joined the church as a monk during his time as a university student, according to many Gregor Mendel biography, he partially took up the position because the position offered him to pay his tuition fees of studies. An interesting fact that was mentioned in many of his biographies was that he was named Johann, the name Gregor was given by the church. Many of his biographies are also named Gregor Johann Mendel biography. 

In 1849 after struggling with health concerns, he filled for a teaching position in the Znaim. He failed the oral part of the test a three-step teaching certification examination system. It was mandatory to pass all three stages of the test to gain a teaching certificate. Later in the year 1851, he was sent for further education at the University of Vienna, at the monastery’s expense, to continue his studies in the sciences.

At the University of Vienna, he studied physics and mathematics under Christian Doppler, the famous scientist who is known for the Doppler’s effect seen in waves. Mendel also studied botany under Franz Unger. He completed his education at the University of Vienna in the year of 1853. Upon completion he was offered a position of teacher at Brno, he accepted the offer and stayed there for over a decade. It was during this time he conducted his experiments and formulated his theories.

He was soon promoted to the position of abbot in the church by replacing the existing abbot Cyril František Napp in 1868. He was more inclined to the administrative and the management work as an abbot which left him little to no time for his experimental studies. The major problems that he faced during his term as an Abbot in the church were the disagreement between church and government regarding the taxation system. The civil government wanted to impose special taxes on religious organizations such as churches, the church strongly disapproved of such changes. 

Contribution in Science

‘Mendel was greatly known for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of genetics. Although he was primarily focused on the study of the basis of genetic inheritance he was also involved in meteorology and astronomy. He was also the founder of the  Austrian Meteorological Society, he founded the society in 1863.

Mendel’s Experiment on Plants

Mendel conducted his studies for eight years that is between 1856 and 1863. Mendel chose pea plants as a subject for his research to study the genetic basis of inheritance. The major reason for this is that crop requires low time to grow and can be grown easily. Another reason for choosing pea plants is that the crop is available in different varieties. He then selected seven different traits that he studied among the plants, the traits were plant colour, seed coat tint, pod shape, unripe pod colour, flower location, and plant height. Mendel continued his study for eight years. Based on the results of his experiment Mendel gave three laws of genetics, they are known as Law of Dominance, Law of Segregation and The Principle of Independent Assortment.

Law of Dominance mentioned that only the dominant traits can be seen in an offspring if the parental generation had both a dominant and recessive trait. The second law of Mendel, the law of segregation suggested that there are dominant and recessive traits passed on randomly from parents to offspring, and the Law of Independent Assortment, which established that traits were passed on independently of other traits from parent to offspring.

Prior to the work of Mendel, the traits that were passed from one generation to another was seen as a diluted blending of traits that were present in the parental generation. Mendel’s experiment provided a clearer understanding of the pattern of transmission of genetic traits. The experiment also used simple statistical analysis methods to draw a conclusion.

Initial Reception of Gregor Mendel’s Work

After concluding his studies on pea plants Mendel published his paper in the Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden" which when translated to English is "Experiments on Plant Hybridization". He published his works in two meetings of the Natural History Society of Brno in Moravia on 8 February and 8 March 1865. It caught the attention of only some people and was largely considered as work on plant hybridization rather than the work in the understanding of genetics. The papers were largely ignored by the scientific community. He then later published his paper in  Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn, in 1866. This was also cited only three times in the history of thirty-five years.

The work of Mendel is an important example of the scientist and inventors whose work was overlooked and not paid attention to, especially Mendel his work was largely criticized and is now considered a seminal work in the field of genetics. Many historians and scientists believe that if they work of Mendel got recognition during the initial days’ genetics as it exists now might have taken hold much earlier. Gregor Mendel biography provides an example of the failure of obscure, highly original innovators to receive the attention they deserve.

Rediscovery of Mendel's Work

During the presentation of his paper, they were approximately 40 scientists who listened to the presentation but failed to understand the concept. His work was largely criticized and was thought of no scientific relevance as the blending of traits was a common belief regarding the transmission of traits from parental to filial generations.

It was long after his death during the start of the 20th century that the work of Mendel got recognition. It was the work of Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, aimed at finding a successful theory of discontinuous inheritance that led to the rediscovery of Mendel’s law. Erich von Tschermak was also credited for the rediscovery but he did not completely understand the implications of Mendel’s law.

In a short span of 2 months, these three scientists published their individual work based on the discovery of Mendel. The results from Mendel’s experiment were quickly replicated. The work became the basis of the study of genetics. It was around 1930 and 1940s scientific communities started a combined approach of Mendelian genetics with Darwin's theory of natural selection that resulted in the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology.

Death and Legacy

Gregor Mendel died on 6 January 1884 as an abbot while serving at the Brno, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. He was 61 during his time of death. He was suffering from chronic nephritis, that is inflammation of the kidney that ultimately led to his demise. There is no evidence of his marriage or children.