Gregor Mendel

Gregor Mendel, often referred to as the father of genetics, was born on July 22, 1822 in Heizendorf, Austria. He was the only son of peasant parents Anton and Rosine Mendel. During his childhood Mendel attended local schools and proved to be very talented. His knack for gardening was honed early on when he worked as a gardener alongside of his parents on the family farm. As a young man, Mendel enrolled in the Olmutz Philosophical Institute in 1840, and decided to join the St. Thomas Monastery of the Augustinian Order in Brünn in 1843. At St. Thomas, he began his theological studies and was ordained a priest in August, 1947.

After his ordination, Mendel was assigned to pastoral duties, but it soon became apparent that he was more suited to teaching. In the following years, Gregor decided that he would devote his life to teaching, and in 1849 he was assigned to a secondary school in the city of Znaim. Unfortunately, when he took the qualifying state examination for teacher certification, he failed. Recognizing that Mendel was largely self-taught, one of his examiners recommended that he be sent for further studies in the natural sciences. In 1851, Mendel was sent to University in Vienna to receive training in a mathematics and natural science. It was there that he acquired the empirical, methodological and scientific research skills which he was to apply to his later investigations. Mendel returned to teaching in Brünn in 1854 but when, two years later, he again attempted the state certification examination he became ill, most likely as a result of debilitating test anxiety, and withdrew.  

The garden of the Augustinian Convent in Brno.

Mendel returned to Brünn in 1856 where he became interested in heredity and hybridization. Though initially drawn to working with mice, Mendel quickly turned to flowers and peas to conduct his experiments. Between 1856 and 1863 Mendel cultivated and tested some 28,000 pea plants. He conducted his study in the monastery's experimental garden and he reported his plant hybrid experiments to the Brunn Natural Science Society in 1865. Ironically, when Mendel's paper was published on 1866 in Proceedings of the Brunn Society for Natural History, it had little impact. It was not until the early 20th century that the enormity of his ideas was realized. In 1868 Mendel was elected Abbot of the monastery and also vice president of the Natural Science Society. In 1884, Gregor Mendel died in Brno, Austria. Just before his death, Mendel expressed his frustration over the lack of recognition of his work during his lifetime when he said, “I am convinced that it will not be long before the whole world acknowledges the results of my work.”

To learn more about Gregor Mendel’s work and heredity, visit our module  Genetics I: Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance. 

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