Gregor Johan Mendel Essay, Research Paper
Todd Paoletti
Per 6
Mrs. Azevedo
Gregor Johann Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was born in 1822 in Heinzendorf, Moravia. It is now the
Czech Republic. When he was 22, he entered the Augustinian Monastery of St. Thomas at
Brunn.
The Augustinian monastery was established in Moravia in 1350. The monks at the
monastery included philosophers, a musicologist, mathematicians, mineralogists and
botanists who all liked scientific research and teaching. The library contained very old
religious books, as well as books dealing with problems in the sciences. The monastery
also held a huge mineral collection and had an experimental botanical garden and a
herbarium (whatever that is). It was in that monastery, Mendel later wrote, that his
preference for the natural sciences was developed.
After becoming an ordained to priesthood, Mendel was assigned to pastoral duties.
But, it soon became apparent that he was more interested in teaching and science. He was
sent to a secondary school in the city of Znaim and the students liked him. But, when he
took the qualifying state examination for his teaching certificate, he failed. It was
recommended that Mendel not retake the examination for at least a year and his Abbot
brought him back to Brunn where he taught part-time. The Abbot, amazed at Mendel’s
knowledge in science, sent him to the University of Vienna in order to improve his skills
for his reexamination. Mendel spent four terms in Vienna (1851- 1853) where he attended
lectures and seminars in natural sciences and mathematics. It was there that he acquired
the scientific skills which he would use to apply to his later experiments. Mendel returned
to his monastery, and continued to teach in Brunn in 1854. When, two years later, he
attempted to get his teaching certification, he became ill and withdrew (yeah right!). He
did not try again to take the examination, but continued to teach part-time and was devote
to his research.
Soon after his return from the University of Vienna, Mendel began his
experiments. Using 34 different kinds of peas (which, by the way
genetic purity), he tried to determine whether it was possible to obtain new types of peas
by “crossbreeding”. Around this time, everyone thought that only the male contributed to
the traits of the subject, but Mendel thought that genes were contributed by both the male
and female. He eventually established two principles of heredity that are now well know as
the Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment. He became the first
to understand the importance of a statistical experiment and to apply a knowledge of
mathematics to his biological problem.
Mendel’s findings on plant hybridization were presented in two lectures before the
Society for the Natural Sciences in Brunn in 1865. The paper was “Versuche uber
Pfanzenhybriden” (no, I don’t know what that means). The guys in this club, all laughed at
Mendel, and they didn’t think any of his information was correct. It was still published in
the Society’s Proceedings in 1866 and sent to 133 other groups of natural scientists and to
the more important libraries in a number of different countries. His work, however, was
largely ignored until, in the spring of 1900, three botanists, Hugo de Vries (Holland), Carl
Correns (Germany) and E. von Tschermak (Austria) reported independent verifications of
Mendel’s work which amounted to a rediscovery of his first principle. Now, everyone was
kicking themselves for not listening to Mendel. It was then that Mendel’s work was
recognized. His work gave birth to a new branch of biology – genetics.
Mendel was not mad that his work was ignored for so long. Disappointment never
affected him even as he pondered other problems and applied mathematical methods to his
work in horticulture, apiculture (?), meteorology, astronomy and other branches of
science. Just before his death on January 6, 1884, he commented: “My scientific labors
have brought me a great deal of satisfaction, and I am convinced that before long the
entire world will praise the result of my labors”. This guy has a pretty good life story I
think.
The End…………………………………………..By: Todd Michael Paoletti
(bibliography supplied upon request!)