Mendelian genetics
Gregor Johann Mendel was a biologist who is known mostly for his work published between 1865 and 1866. Mendel's theories became an important part of how we came to understand heredity today. Before getting into detail about Mendel's theories, it is important to note that many other scientists contributed to our current knowledge of heredity, such as Francis Crick, Thomas Hunt Morgan, Erwin Chargaff, Charles Darwin, and others. You can click the links in the scientists names to learn more about their studies.
Mendel studied genetics by experimenting with hybridization on regular garden peas. The laws of inheritance (created in the 1900s) were derived from Mendel's studies. From 1856 to1863, he cultivated and tested some over 5000 pea plants. He began to notice that inheritance followed particular patterns. From these experiments, he induced generalizations which are now known as
Mendel's Principles of Heredity, which states that Inheritance involves the passing of discrete
image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/ units of genes from parents to offspring. Before the discovery of Genes or DNA, Mendel was able to discover that there are internal factors (now known as genes) that account for variations in inherited characteristics of his pea plants. His principles also apply to all other living organisms.
Before Mendel, the theories about genetics were all mostly unsupported claims that were very incorrect. Mendel started the first rational discussion about heredity by being the first person to draw conclusions about trait inheritance from actual experiments instead of just making up an idea out of the blue. Without his theories, heredity may have not have been studied for many, many years to come.
Mendel studied genetics by experimenting with hybridization on regular garden peas. The laws of inheritance (created in the 1900s) were derived from Mendel's studies. From 1856 to1863, he cultivated and tested some over 5000 pea plants. He began to notice that inheritance followed particular patterns. From these experiments, he induced generalizations which are now known as
Mendel's Principles of Heredity, which states that Inheritance involves the passing of discrete
image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/ units of genes from parents to offspring. Before the discovery of Genes or DNA, Mendel was able to discover that there are internal factors (now known as genes) that account for variations in inherited characteristics of his pea plants. His principles also apply to all other living organisms.
Before Mendel, the theories about genetics were all mostly unsupported claims that were very incorrect. Mendel started the first rational discussion about heredity by being the first person to draw conclusions about trait inheritance from actual experiments instead of just making up an idea out of the blue. Without his theories, heredity may have not have been studied for many, many years to come.