Genetics pioneer Gregor crossword

Gregor Mendel - The Father of Genetics

Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk and scientist, is known as the father of genetics. In the mid-19th century he carried out work that later became the basis for our knowledge of how offspring receive attributes from parents. For that reason he holds a key place in the story of science.

Early Life plus Education

A Monastic Upbringing

Mendel was born in 1822 in Heinzendorf, Austria (today in the Czech Republic). He spent his youth on a small farm. There he first became interested in the natural world. In 1843 he entered the Augustinian monastery at Brno and took the name Gregor.

Science but also Mathematics

Within the monastery Mendel was free to follow his scientific interests. He learned physics, mathematics and the natural sciences. Later he taught at a nearby school. His questioning nature as well as his ability to think in numbers later helped him reach the discoveries that founded genetics.

The Pea Plant Experiments

Observing Heredity in Action

Mendel's best known work used the ordinary pea plant - he picked sharply different kinds of peas and carried pollen from one bloom to another with his own hand. He recorded how tall every plant grew, the color of each seed and the form of every pod. After he had repeated the crosses for many seasons, the same numerical pattern showed up again in the offspring.

Discovering the Laws of Inheritance

From the figures he entered in his notebooks Mendel stated three plain rules

• The Law of Segregation - A single trait is ruled by a pair of invisible units - we now name them genes. When the plant prepares pollen or egg cells, the pair splits and only one unit enters any one sex cell.
• The Law of Independent Assortment - Genes that control separate features - for example seed color and plant height - are distributed into pollen and eggs with no link between them.
• The Law of Dominance - When two different units for one trait come together in the same plant, one unit masks the effect of the other. The unit that reveals itself is termed dominant - the unit that remains unseen is termed recessive.

Those three rules, now known as Mendel's laws, form the foundation of modern genetics.

The Rediscovery of Mendel's Work

Mendel's Work Goes Unnoticed

While Mendel was alive, hardly anyone noticed his research - he published his findings in 1866, but the wider scientific community paid little attention. He died in 1884, never knowing the impact his ideas would eventually have.

A Rediscovery plus Renewed Interest

It was not until the early 1900s that biologists came across his papers and understood their importance. In 1900, three separate researchers independently arrived at the same conclusions Mendel had already presented. This simultaneous rediscovery drew renewed attention to his previously overlooked experiments.

Conclusion

Gregor Mendel laid the groundwork for genetics - his careful counting of pea plants, along with his clear reasoning, showed how attributes are passed from parents to offspring and how variation drives evolution. Thanks to his patience, precision and willingness to ask bold questions, later scientists were able to build the entire science of heredity on his foundation. On that account, he is now known as the “Father of Genetics.”