Johann (Gregor) Mendel 1822-1884 “Who Was Gregor Mendel? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline, www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/gregor-mendel-3786.php#how-to-cite.

Mendel’s Early Years He was born in Heinzendorf Bel Odrau, Austrian Empire as a middle child and only son to Anton and Rosine Mendel. He had 2 sisters. He worked and lived on the family farm where he studied beekeeping which cultivated his love for biological sciences.

Mendel’s Education He went to school in his small village but went to a nearby town for secondary school. Later, he went to the University of Olomouc where he studied physics and philosophy from 1840-1843.

Career and Works In 1843, he started training as a priest and joined the Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas in Borno as a monk. He became a teacher in 1853 at the Monastery, where he encouraged his colleagues to conduct plant studies. He changed his name to Gregor when entering the religious field.

Mendel’s Plant Studies He began his practical studies on plants at the Monastery. He studied edible pea plants and recognized seven distinct characteristics that stayed the same over several generations: height of the plant, shape of the pod, shape of the seed, size and colour of the seeds, etc. He crossed plants with contrasting characteristics to see what would happen. He collected and analyzed over thousands of seeds over 8 years.

Major Works (law of segregation, law of dominance, and the law of independent assortment). Mendel founded 3 laws of inheritance. He developed the concepts of dominant and recessive genes. His paper “Experiments on Plant Hybridization” is regarded as the basis of genetic experimentation.

Personal Life Mendel was very close to his family and had a connection with them his whole life. Being a monk, he lived a life of celibacy and never married.

End of his life... Mendel died at the age of 61 from kidney problems in Brno, Austria-Hungary on January 6, 1884. “His work on heredity which did not find much acceptance during his lifetime took on much greater significance after his death and he was posthumously hailed as the father of modern genetics”.

Summarize his life in a paragraph on the back. Share with another person. Tape in notebook as flip page on 88-89.