Gregor Mendel

1822 – 1884

Gregor Johann Mendel was an Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brno who, between 1856 and 1863, conducted breeding experiments on roughly 28,000 pea plants that revealed the statistical laws of inheritance now named for him. His 1866 paper went largely unread for 35 years until its rediscovery around 1900, when it became the foundation of the new science of genetics. He is now universally recognized as the founder of the field, and his "Mendelian inheritance" remains the conceptual cornerstone of all subsequent genetic theory.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM