Unfortunately, many naturalists are not known to their contemporaries. Their great discoveries are evaluated only by subsequent generations of scientists. The same story happened with the founder of modern genetics, Gregor Mendel.
Mendel Johann Gregor (1822 to 1884) - Augustinian monk, holder of an honorary church title, founder of the famous "Mendel's Law" (the doctrine of heredity), Austrian biologist and natural scientist.
He is considered the first researcher at the origins of modern genetics.
Birth and childhood details of Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel was born on July 20, 1822 in a small rural town of Heinzendorf in the outback of the Austrian empire. Many sources indicate that the date of his birth is July 22, but this statement is erroneous, on this day he was baptized.
Johann grew up and was brought up in a peasant family of German-Slavic origin, was the youngest child of Rosina and Anton Mendel.
Teaching and religious activities
From an early age, the future scientist began to show an interest in nature. After graduating from the village school, Johann entered the gymnasium of the town of Troppau and studied there six classes, until 1840. After receiving his primary education, in 1841 he entered the University of Olmutz for philosophy courses. The financial situation of Johann's family during these years greatly deteriorated and he had to take care of himself. After graduating from philosophy courses at the end of 1843, Johann Mendel decides to become a novice of the Augustinian monastery in Brunn, where he soon takes the name Gregor.
The next four years (1844-1848), an inquisitive young man undergoes training at a theological institute. In 1847 Johann Mendel became a priest.
Thanks to the huge library in the Augustine Monastery of St. Thomas, rich in ancient folios, scientific and philosophical works of thinkers, Gregor was able to independently study many additional sciences and fill in the gaps in knowledge. Along the way, a well-read student more than once replaced the teachers of one of the schools, in their absence.
In 1848, when passing the exams for a teacher, Gregor Mendel unexpectedly received negative results in several subjects (geology and biology). The next three years (1851-1853) worked as a teacher of Greek, Latin and mathematics at the gymnasium in the town of Znaim.
Seeing Mendel's strong interest in science, the abbot of the monastery of St. Thomas helps him to continue his studies at the University of Vienna under the guidance of the Austrian cytologist Unger Franz. It was the seminars at this university that instilled in Johann an interest in the process of crossing (hybridizing) plants.
Still an inexperienced qualified specialist, Johann in 1854 received a place at the regional school of Brunn and began to teach physics and history there. In 1856, he tried several more times to retake the exam in biology, but the results were unsatisfactory this time.
Contribution to genetics, first discoveries
Continuing his teaching activity and additionally studying the mechanism of changes in the processes of growth and characteristics of plants, Mendel begins to conduct extensive experiments in the monastery garden. In the period from 1856 to 1863, he managed to find out the regularity of the mechanisms of inheritance of plant hybrids by crossing them, using the example of peas.
Scientific works
At the beginning of 1865, Johann presented the data of his works to the college of experienced naturalists of Brunn. A year and a half later, his works were published under the title Experiments on Plant Hybrids. Having ordered several dozen published copies of his work, he sent them to major biologists. But these works did not arouse much interest.
This case can be called truly rare in the history of mankind. The works of the great scientist became the beginning of the birth of a new science, which became the foundation of modern genetics. Before the appearance of his work, there were many attempts at hybridization, but they were not so successful.
Having made the most important discovery and not seeing interest in it from the scientific community, Johann attempted to crossbreed other species. He began to carry out his experiments on bees and plants of the Asteraceae family. Unfortunately, the attempts were unsuccessful, in other types his works were not confirmed. The main reason was the peculiarities of the reproduction of bees and plants, about which at that time nothing was known to science and there was no possibility to take them into account. Ultimately, Johann Mendel became disillusioned with his discovery and stopped doing further research in the field of biology.
Completion of scientific creativity and the last years of life
Having received an honorary ecclesiastical, Catholic title in 1868, Mendel became abbot of the famous Starobrnensky monastery, where he spent the rest of his life.
Johann Gregor Mendel died on January 6, 1884 in the Czech Republic, the city of Brunn (now the city of Brno).
For 15 years, during the period of his life, his works were published in scientific reports. Many botanists knew about the painstaking work of the scientist, but his work was not taken seriously by them. The importance of the great discovery he made was realized only at the end of the twentieth century, with the development of genetics.
In the Starobrno Monastery, a monument and a memorial plaque were erected in his memory, with his words: "My time will come yet." The original works, manuscripts and objects that he used are in the Mendel Museum in Brno.
