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Mahalo biology expert Mary Poffenroth tells you about famed geneticist Gregor Mendel.
Gregor Mendel: Early Life
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Born Johann Mendel on July 22, 1822, in Heizendorf, Austria (now part of Czech Republic) to a farming family, the future founder of modern genetics excelled in his studies. His family, however, was unable to pay for extended formal education. During Mendel's studies at the Philosophical Institute of the University of Olmütz, he was forced to fund himself via tutoring. His family helped in any way possible, even to the point that his sister donated her dowry to help pay tuition.http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/natural/biography/mendel.htm The pressure and stress of the situation eventually took its toll, and twice he fell into depression, returning home to convalesce each time.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/374739/Gregor-Mendel
After graduation in 1843, Mendel chose to enter the Augustinian order of St. Thomas's Abbey at Brünn, Austria (Brno, Czech Republic). Upon inclusion to the order, Johann was renamed Gregor.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/374739/Gregor-Mendel Monastic life allowed Mendel to continue his studies and he began teaching classes in mathematics and Greek. Unfortunately, he was unable to pass an exam to gain permanent teaching credentials. His instructor, however, recognized his potential and had him sent to the University of Vienna in 1850.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxLqIaa5Kvs&feature=player_embedded
Gregor Mendel: Friar and Scientist
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While in Vienna, Mendel studied a host of different sciences and was greatly influenced by botanist Franz Unger.http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/natural/biography/mendel.htm It was through Unger that Mendel was exposed advanced botany techniques, microscope use and cell theory. This was prior to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and the idea that cells were the basic structures of living things was seen as radical and even heretical.
In 1853, Mendel returned to life in his monastery. He took, and failed, his teaching exam again, suffering a nervous breakdown in the process. He remained a substitute teacher for the rest of his life. In 1867, Mendel was elected abbot, the highest position in the abbey. The years between his return and his promotion mark the period of his greatest experimentation and scientific study.
http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/natural/biography/mendel.htm
Gregor Mendel: Obscure Genius
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Using his background in scientific research, Mendel began to experiment with theories on heredity by growing pea plants in the monastery garden. Over the course of eight years and thousands of pea plants, Mendel studied the variations he was able to create through crossbreeding. He learned how traits were passed down from parents and theorized the basis for what would later become modern genetics.http://fieldmuseum.org/about/mendelâs-experiments In 1865, Mendel presented and published Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden or Experiments in Plant Hybridization. Though it was favorably received at the time, it was not thought to prove much other than past theories on heredity. His paper is now considered a seminal scientific text, but was not discovered for its genius until after Mendel's 1884 death.http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/natural/biography/mendel.htm Many reasons can be given for why Mendel was not recognized in his own time. One of the major factors was the fact that Mendel was unable to recreate his findings with pea plants in his next experiments with hawkweed and bees. Mendel was unaware at the time that, unlike pea plants, hawkweed reproduces asexually, as well as sexually. Bees proved too difficult to breed in a controlled manner. With skewed results and unknown reasons for the failed experiments, it became difficult for Mendel to prove his case.http://fieldmuseum.org/about/mendelâs-experiments The fact that Mendel did not make any notable attempts to publicize his findings didn't help either.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/374739/Gregor-Mendel
The Experiments
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Mendel used pea plants in order to isolate a series of different traits, like color variations and pea texture, through crossbreeding....
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