Gregor
Johann Mendel of 1822-1884 was an advanced scientist who discovered and
researched the inheritance of traits from generation to generation. Through his
studies and research of pea plants, he was able to observe that when two pea
plants mate to produce offspring, they do not always result in the exact same
phenotypes as their “parents”. Gregor Mendel was known as the “father of modern
genetics” and made the discovery as a monk while tending to his monastery
garden (biography.com). Before Mendel’s experiments, the people of the mid-1800’s
had accepted the belief that offspring were just a blended up version of their
parents, inheriting all traits from both the mother and the father, similar to
the mixing of paint, blue mixed with yellow makes green. 
Through
Mendel’s experiments, he discovered two laws, including the Law of Segregation,
and the Law of Independent Assortment. As he published his results, the people
misunderstood them, and were very confused by them, believing that the research
he had conducted had only proved what they already knew, that the two mixed up
and created a duplicate of both parents in one. The people did not accept
Mendel’s findings and Mendel himself often struggled to accept them as the
truth behind the science of the passing on of traits and genetics. These
findings and important observations were not recognized to be true for years
after scientist Gregor Mendel had passed, however, these findings have become
known as the base of biology studies today and are very well known throughout
the scientific field.Resources
"Mendel's Experiments." Welcome to The Field Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2013. http://fieldmuseum.org/about/mendel’s-experiments.
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