GREGOR MENDEL: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS - BIOLOGY - 2025

Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) was an Austrian monk and scientist considered the father of genetics, for his discovery of the basic principles of heredity. His observations from the experiments he carried out in his garden marked the beginning of modern genetics.

However, the importance of his work was not recognized until the end of the 19th century, when Erich von Tschermak, Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, and William Jasper Spillman independently verified his studies.

In the course of his studies, he observed that there were seven characteristics of the pea plant, and two forms of each characteristic. These characteristics included the shape of the seed, its color, the shape of the pod or the growth of the plant.

Studies, experiments and observations with these plants led to what are now known as Mendel's Laws.

Biography

Gregor Johann Mendel was born on July 20, 1822 in the former Austrian Empire, in the town of Heinzendorf.

Mendel's birth name was Johann, which changed to Gregor when he entered the Order of Saint Augustine as a friar at a later point in his life.

His family lived in poverty, and he belonged to one of the various family groups that inhabited this region until the end of World War II.

His father had participated in Napoleon's wars, he was a veteran of these conflicts. At the time Mendel was born, he was working as a farmer for a landowner. For his part, Mendel's mother was the daughter of a gardener.

Mendel's early years were difficult, given the economic context in which the family lived. He had no financial resources and the only option for Gregor to receive a second grade education was by entering a seminary.

Entry into the convent

It was in 1843 when Mendel entered the Augustinian convent located in the city of Brno, which was called the Abbey of St. Thomas. It was a space considered the seat of the enlightened religious. Four years later, in 1847, he was ordained as a priest; at that time he was 27 years old.

Mendel liked teaching, so in 1849 he took an exam to choose to teach at a secondary school that was located in the city of Znojmo. However, he failed this exam.

In order to obtain the necessary requirements to dedicate himself to teaching, two years later (in 1851) he began to take classes in chemistry, botany, history, mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna.

From this university he received a Ph.D. in Science and Mathematics. In 1854 he was a substitute professor at the Royal School of Brno, as well as at other religious institutions. After this time of teaching, he was sent to the Brno convent.

First experiments

The first experiments carried out by Gregor Mendel took place in the convent garden in 1856, in which he tested different options for crossbreeding with peas.

It is said that Mendel was a man with extensive observation skills, as well as knowledge of agriculture, since it was the trade to which his father dedicated himself. When he was younger, he worked a few times with his father on the farm, so this experience also gained him knowledge.

His interest was to understand what it was that caused certain characteristics to be maintained or changed in some plants; So he chose peas, very easy to grow plants, to try to answer his concern.

The specimens he chose for his experiments were simple (with a single gene); it is not known for sure whether this was so because Mendel actually considered it, or because it was simply a stroke of luck.

What is known is that Mendel chose plants that had simple characteristics, so that these particularities could be reviewed and analyzed, thus achieving an easier and more precise monitoring.

Pure strains and statistics

To make sure that the experiment could see verifiably effectively, Mendel took care to deal with pure species. In fact, he grew them for several generations before beginning to mix and cross them.

A novel aspect related to this study, as well as to the time that makes up its context, is that Mendel used statistical tools to be able to check how significant or not a piece of data he was analyzing was.

At the time that Mendel lived, it was not usual to use the statistical field to carry out the checks of the experiments.

Mendel published his studies in 1865, on February 8 and March 8, before the Brno Natural History Society, and a year later they were published under the title of Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden, whose translation into Spanish is Experiments in plant hybrids.

Reactions

At that time, the current authorities in the field of science did not consider the information that Mendel provided relevant, so their work was not taken into account.

Some sources indicate that the reason why his studies were not relevant at the time is that the members of the Brno Natural History Society could not fully understand his ideas.

Mendel also sent copies of this study to different personalities of science in Europe, who did not seem to understand it either. An example of this was the uninterested response he received from Charles Darwin, to whom he had left a copy of his study.

church

There was one institution that paid a little more attention: it was the Church. This institution admonished Gregor Mendel, although the punishment was not of great magnitude, since he was later appointed abbot of the convent.

This appointment was carried out in 1868, which made Mendel dedicate himself fully to religious activities and put aside scientific research.

Death

Mendel died on January 6, 1884 in Brno from liver failure.

Mendel could never enjoy the worldwide fame that he has today, as his work was recognized and valued worldwide several decades after he died.

Main contributions

He is the father of Genetics

Although the science of genetics as we know it today was born several decades after Mendel's death, his studies on the hybridization of plants set the most important precedent for understanding how genes, heredity, phenotypes, etc. work.

Mendel explained in his studies the existence of certain "elements" - today known as genes - that are transmitted from generation to generation according to laws and that are present even though they are not manifested in the form of traits.

He proposed new research methods

By the time Mendel presented his ideas on hybridization to the public, his studies did not receive the attention they deserved.

Although the research method was controversial and unorthodox because it added Mendel's knowledge of biology, physics, and mathematics, for most scientists it was irrelevant novelty.

His way of explaining nature with mathematics was something new at that time although today it is considered a basic principle of science.

He experimented with peas to propose broader theses

Mendel was trying to discover how the inheritance of certain characteristics worked in hybrid beings. For this reason, he chose the pea plant as his research model.

He observed that some of them were green and others were yellow, smooth, rough, or had purple or white flowers, and that these characteristics were passed down from generation to generation following a mathematical pattern.

The information gathered in these experiments was published in 1865 but went unnoticed.

Creator of the laws of inheritance

The basis and sustenance of modern genetics are "Mendel's Laws." There are three basic principles of inheritance discovered in experiments done with peas:

• Uniformity law: if two pure races are crossed (a dominant homozygous with a recessive one) for a certain trait, the descendants of the first generation will all be equal to each other, phenotypically and genotypically, and phenotypically equal to one of the parents (genotype dominant).
• Law of Segregation: During the formation of gametes, each allele of a pair is separated from the other member to determine the genetic makeup of the filial gamete.
• Independent combination law: different traits are inherited independently of each other, there is no relationship between them.

Predicted the existence of genes

Mendel, due to the scientific moment of his time, could not fully explain why certain characteristics of plants were kept hidden but sprouted in later generations, however his third law is a glimpse of what today we call recessive genes and dominant genes.

Dominant genes manifest in the individual, while recessive genes, although not manifested, can be transmitted to descendant individuals.

Made the first scientific description of a tornado

Although Mendel is famous for his work on heredity and hybridization, he was also a respected meteorologist.

In 1871 he made the first scientific description of a tornado that had caused considerable damage to the city of Brno in October of the previous year. Also, he used the same scientific method to make climate predictions.

In 2002, a Stevenson screen (a box that holds meteorological instruments) was recovered and believed to have been used by Mendel to study the weather. He also founded the Austrian Meteorological Society

Carried out beekeeping experiments

Mendel was also interested in the breeding and hybridization of bees. For the last ten years of his life, he carried out experiments with various races of bees in order to understand if his mathematical model of inheritance could also be applied to other living beings.

For several years he built special cages and imported species of bees from various parts of the world to be able to observe their characteristics. In 1871 he was appointed president of the Brno Beekeeping Association.

References

1. Iltis, H. (1924). Gregor Johann Mendel: Leben, Werk und Wirkung. Berlin: Julius Springer.
2. Iltis, H., Eden, P., & Cedar, P. (1932). Life of Mendel. London: G. Allen & Unwin.
3. International Plant Names Index. (2005). The International Plant Names Index: Author Details. Obtained from IPNI: ipni.org.
4. O'Neil, D. (2013). anthro.palomar.edu. Retrieved from Mendel's Genetics: anthro.palomar.edu.
5. Rožnovský, J. (May 9, 2014). GJ Mendel´s meteorological observations. Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Brno branch office.
6. Schwarzbach, E., Smýkal, P., Dostál, O., Jarkovská, M., & Valová, S. (2014). Gregor J. Mendel - Genetics Founding Father. Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed, 43-51.