Gregor Mendel, “The Father of Modern Genetics”
Rough Draft
I was intrigued when I came upon Gregor Mendel while searching for a Scientist to do this research paper on. His name was familiar to me from somewhere, but I had absolutely no idea who he was. This is what made me want to choose him. And I couldn’t have picked a better person to be honest, what this man did is fascinating. Known as the “father of modern genetics,” Gregor was able to redefine what we knew about genetics. His study of heredity was fundamental to everything that what we know about genetics today. Through simple but very time-consuming experiments, during the course of many years, Mendel was able to really understand what heredity was. From his early life as a farmer and monk; all of his achievements through experiments with genetics; major works that really changed the worlds view of genetics; and the legacy that he was able to build and leave behind after his later years. Gregor Mendel truly is, “The Father of Modern Genetics.” Johann, later to change his name to Gregor, was born July 22nd of the year 1822. He was the middle child of Veronica Mendel, and Theresia Mendel. His parents Anton and Rosine Mendel were farmers in what was then Heinzendorf, Austria. They had that farm passed down from many generations, so Johann was destined to carry on the farm. He worked as a beekeeper, but also loved to work in the garden, which really helped him fall in love with Biological science. He loved his family,
Gregor Mendel was born in Heinzendorf, Austria on July 22, 1822 to the parents of Rosine and Anton Mendel. Gregor grew up on his families farm until he reached age 11 when a schoolmaster was impressed with his determination for learning and suggested that he should be sent off to secondary school in Troppau. The move all the way from Austria to Troppau was very money straining for the family, but well worth it in the end. In 1840, Gregor graduated from the school with honors. In 1843, he went aganist his fathers orders and decided to become a monk, until he worked so hard that he physically became ill. Due to his illness he was sent to the University of Vienna to expand his studies in science.
The basis of genetics were established by Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk in the mid to late 1800’s. Through the observations from cross-pollinating pea plants, Mendel was able to discover the basic laws of inheritance. Mendel’s experiment was to cross pollinate pea plants and observe how traits were passed on. He started his experiment with two true breeding pods,
The Gene, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee, follows the history of human genetics and its effect on society. The story covers the complete maturation of the gene from Darwin’s original theory of gemmules to our mapping of the entire human genome. Mukherjee vivifies the story of one of the most important scientific discoveries by bringing together science, society, and his own personal experiences. The Gene not only shows us the surprising effects of our genetics on our appearances, health, personalities, and identities, but also demonstrates the dangers tied to this newfound knowledge. It has opened me to an entire world of biology I never existed.
As “the father of modern genetics”, Mendel made a huge impact on science by discovering the basic laws of heredity, with dominant and recessive traits. Through these discoveries he inspired many scientists to jump onto genetics and try to replicate his experiment to confirm his results.
3. Carlson, Elof Axel. Mendel's Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2004. Print
For anyone who’s heard of Mendel’s pea plants should also be familiar with the idea of the heritability of traits. Gregor Mendel was the one accredited with coming up with the idea of genetic heritability; the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring. With his peas, Mendel demonstrated that offspring were not the blended versions of their parents. Mendel also created a list of laws, such as the law of segregation, independent assortment, and of dominance. Each law has been tried and tested, and is now considered absolute truth by the scientific community;
In 1851 he joined the university of Vienna to continue master of science program. (Haas, L. F.1998) He also started studying mathematics and physics with Christian Doppler. He studied Botany with Christian Franz Unger, (Soudek, D. 1984). Franz was the person who used microscope during his studies. During this time Mendel has gained different experiences in his life, earned more respect from people, and become a well-known person (2006. PR). In 1868 he was elected as the head of the monastery for the school that he taught for years
Gregor Johann Mendel was a scientist, friar, and abbot from the mid 19th century. He is well known for being the apparent father of genetics because of his theories which have greatly impacted the way the human body’s genetics are seen today.
Born Johann Mendel in 1822 in what is now the Czech Republic, he lived a peasant’s life for many years. In grade school he was a gifted child and sent to boarding school in the German town of Opava. His parents could not afford the school so Mendel tutored other students to pay for school. After graduating he was unable to find a job as a teacher and returned to his parents’ farm. In 1841, Mendel was accepted to the University of Olomouc, but attending the university was tough because he did not speak Chech. He made good relationships with his professors and earned top marks in mathematics and science.
Gregory Bateson was born in Grantchester, England to an aristocratic family in 1904 (Stagoll 2006). His father, William Bateson, was a prominent geneticist who founded the Cambridge School of Genetics and coined the term “genetics (Stagoll 2006).” William Bateson was a strong advocate of the work of geneticist Gregor Mendel and named Gregory in his honor (Stagoll 2006). Following in his father’s footsteps, Gregory Bateson received his bachelor’s degree in natural sciences at St. Johns at Cambridge where his grandfather, William Henry Bateson, held the position of master (Levy and Rappaport 1982). After publishing his first paper about
Gregor Mendel is known as the father of modern genetics because of the research and experiments he did by breeding pea plants and examining their physical appearances. He studied the plants seed color and shape, pod color and shape, and flower color and position. Mendel collected the seeds from pods produced after fertilizing two parent pea plants and then grew those seeds into new plants and observed how the offspring resembled or differed from the parents. After all of his experimentation, Mendel was able to conclude 3 principles. The principle of segregation, which meant that each organism has two alleles for each gene, one from each parent that separate
Most people know of Gregor Johann Mendel as the Father of Genetics and the founder of heredity principles, however, in a different angle, he is a passionate and persistent boy who allows curiosity leads his life. Being born with a rather average background, Mendel does not let such factor to hinderance with his dream. With his dedication and the guidance of erudite professors, Mendel is able to conduct a research that changed history forever.
Beginning in 1856 with Mendel's work on heredity, it tells the story of man’s struggle to decipher the human genome, understand it, and use it for both good and evil. The Gene: An Intimate History also tells the personal story of the Mukherjee family and their
Did Gregor Mendel help scientist today? Gregor Mendel experimented with pea plants and came to three conclusions also known as the Laws of Heredity. These discoveries went unrecognized for a period of time because people did not think something could come out of an experiment from pea plants. They were wrong, many years later Mendel’s conclusions are being taught at schools and he is being recognized for them. Gregor Mendel helped scientist understand how genes are passed down throughout generations. He has made it so that scientist now are able to help people with disorders because of the traits that they have.
Another man who contributed greatly to the study of genetics, was an American biologist by the name of Thomas Hunt Morgan. He studied the ways that characteristics were passed from one generation of fruit flies to the next. He learned that the genes in fruit flies behaved in the same way as the genes in pea plants. He also noticed that certain genes were inherited together more often than random chance should allow.