Mendel G.J.: life and scientific activity (on the 200th birth anniversary)

Abstract

The main life and activity moments of the founder of modern genetics, the world-famous Austrian biologist and monk Gregor Mendel are discussed in the article. He developed the scientific principles of hybrids and their offspring description and research, introduced the concept of alternative traits – dominant and recessive, first applied the algebraic symbol system and trait designations, and formulated the basic inheritance trait laws in a number of generations too. His scientific report Experiments on plant hybrids (1865, Brun), as well as the article based on his results of research published the following year, remained underestimated and not fully understood by biologists at that time. The recognition Mendel’s outstanding works took place 35 years later, after the almost simultaneous article publications by three European scientists – H. de Vries, C. Correns and E. Tschermak, who independently confirmed his data with their own experiments. G. Mendel’s success in discovering the first laws of genetics is due to the fact that he chose research objects with alternative morphological features, involved a sufficient number of individuals and used mathematical methods to generalize the experiment results.