Mendel was a monk and took great pleasure in teaching mathematics and physics at a nearby school. But he failed to pass the state certification for the post of teacher. The abbot of the monastery saw his craving for knowledge and very high intellectual abilities. He sent him to the University of Vienna for higher education. There Gregor Mendel studied for two years. He attended classes in natural sciences, mathematics. This helped him later formulate the laws of inheritance.
Difficult school years
Gregor Mendel was the second child in a family of peasants with German and Slavic roots. In 1840, the boy completed six classes at the gymnasium, and the very next year he entered the philosophical class. But in those years, the financial condition of the family deteriorated, and the 16-year-old Mendel had to take care of his own food on his own. It was very difficult. Therefore, after completing his studies in philosophy classes, he becamenovice in a monastery.
By the way, his birth name is Johann. Already in the monastery they began to call him Gregor. He did not come here in vain, as he received patronage, as well as financial support, which makes it possible to continue his studies. In 1847 he was ordained a priest. During this period he studied at the theological school. There was a rich library here, which had a positive effect on learning.
Monk and teacher
Gregor, who did not yet know that he was the future founder of genetics, taught classes at school and, after failing the certification, got into the university. After graduation, Mendel returned to the city of Brunn and continued to teach natural history and physics. He again tried to pass the certification for the position of a teacher, but the second attempt was also a failure.
Experiments with peas
Why is Mendel considered the founder of genetics? From 1856, in the monastery garden, he began to conduct extensive and carefully thought-out experiments related to the crossing of plants. On the example of peas, he revealed patterns of inheritance of various traits in the offspring of hybrid plants. Seven years later, the experiments were completed. And a couple of years later, in 1865, at meetings of the Brunn Society of Naturalists, he made a report on the work done. A year later, his article about experiments on plant hybrids was published. It was thanks to her that the foundations of genetics as an independent scientific discipline were laid. Because of this, Mendelfounder of genetics.
If earlier scientists could not put everything together and form principles, then Gregor succeeded. He created scientific rules for the study and description of hybrids, as well as their descendants. A symbolic system was developed and applied to designate signs. Mendel formulated two principles by which inheritance predictions can be made.
Late confession
Despite the publication of his article, the work had only one positive review. The German scientist Negeli, who also studied hybridization, favorably reacted to the works of Mendel. But he also had doubts about the fact that the laws that were revealed only on peas could be universal. He advised that Mendel, the founder of genetics, repeat the experiments on other plant species. Gregor respectfully agreed.
He tried to repeat the experiments on the hawk, but the results were unsuccessful. And only after many years it became clear why this happened. The fact was that in this plant, seeds are formed without sexual reproduction. There were also other exceptions to the principles that the founder of genetics deduced. After the publication of articles by famous botanists, which confirmed the research of Mendel, since 1900, there was recognition of his work. For this reason, 1900 is considered the year of birth of this science.
Everything that Mendel discovered convinced him that the laws he described with the help of peas are universal. Hadonly to convince other scientists of this. But the task was as difficult as the scientific discovery itself. And all because knowing the facts and understanding them are completely different things. The fate of the discovery of genetics, that is, the 35-year delay between the discovery itself and its public recognition, is not a paradox at all. In science, this is quite normal. A century after Mendel, when genetics was already flourishing, the same fate befell McClintock's discoveries, which were not recognized for 25 years.
Legacy
In 1868, the scientist, the founder of genetics Mendel, became the abbot of the monastery. He almost completely stopped doing science. Notes on linguistics, bee breeding, and meteorology were found in his archives. On the site of this monastery is currently the Gregor Mendel Museum. A special scientific journal is also named after him.
