Who invented genetics

Among the many species on which Mendel worked, he selected pea because the plants and seeds have a wide array of distinct features that occur in two easily identifiable forms e.

The pea flower is another useful feature of these plants , as it ensures that the flowers of the hybridised and parent plants are protected from any foreign pollen.

The relatively short growth period is another advantage, meaning there was not a long wait for the results. Over eight years, Mendel studied pea traits one at a time and crossbred variants to systematically record how traits were passed on from one generation to the next: a mammoth task that involved approximately 28, pea plants.

His goal was to create hybrid pea plants and observe the outcome. His observations led to more experiments, which led to unusually prescient conclusions. By simply counting peas and keeping meticulous notes, Mendel established the principles of inheritance, coined the terms dominant and recessive, and was the first to use statistical methods to analyze and predict hereditary information. For eight years, Mendel cultivated thousands of pea plants and used a paintbrush to painstakingly transfer pollen from one plant to another to make his crosses all the while still attending to his duties as a monk and a teacher.

After the peas. In the years following the publication of his work, Mendel continued his interest in science: he attempted cross-breeding experiments with hawkweed and bees and became a meticulous record keeper of meteorological and astronomical data. He was elected abbot of his parish in and became a political activist in his later years, during which time he protested the taxation of his parish.

At age 61, he died of kidney failure. This page appears in the eBook Essentials of Genetics, Unit 3. Key Questions How did Mendel do his experiments? Key Concepts test cross principle of independent assortment principle of segregation. Topic rooms within Genetics Close. No topic rooms are there. Browse Visually. Other Topic Rooms Genetics. Student Voices. Creature Cast. Simply Science. Green Screen. Green Science. Concept 1 Children resemble their parents.

Johann Gregor Mendel Father of Genetics Gregor Mendel, through his work on pea plants, discovered the fundamental laws of inheritance. Mendel's Laws of Heredity are usually stated as: 1 The Law of Segregation: Each inherited trait is defined by a gene pair. Why weren't Mendel's Laws understood until ? Children resemble their parents. Genes come in pairs. Genes don't blend. Some genes are dominant. Genetic inheritance follows rules.

Genes are real things. All cells arise from pre-existing cells.