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 Gregor Mendel: Centenary of Death Scott 729-730 (1984) On February 28, 1984, the Vatican issued a two-stamp set to commemorate the centenary of the death of noted biologist Gregor Johann Mendel, the man often referred to as the “Father of Modern Genetics”. The stamps picture Mendel, along with a graphic illustration of his experiments on the transmission of genetic traits carried out on hybrids of pea plants. Johann Mendel was born on July 20, 1822, 20 at Heinzendorf bei Odrau, Silesia (what is now Hynčice, Czechia). He lived with his parents and two sisters on the family farm, where he enjoyed gardening and beekeeping. His decision to enter the monastery at Saint Thomas’s Abbey in Brno in 1843 was based on a decision to advance his education without having to pay for it himself, sparing himself the "perpetual anxiety about a means of livelihood." He was given the name "Gregor" when he joined the Order of Saint Augustine. At the completion of university studies and religious training, Mendel hoped to become a teacher, but twice failed the oral part of the exam due to nervousness. Mendel would become the abbot at the monastery in 1860. During his time there, he was engaged in research in the monastery’s botanical garden. He carried out many hybridization experiments, breeding pea plants. He chose to study the inheritance of seven traits (seed shape, seed coat tint, flower color, flower location, pod shape, unripe pod color, and plant height). Over time, Mendel grew and tested about 28,000 plants. His experiments led him to formulate the fundamental laws on the transmission of hereditary characteristics, where he established that mathematical patterns seemed to govern the inheritance of the plant traits. He developed the “Law of Segregation” and the “Law of Independent Assortment”, which form the basis of what came to be called “Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance”. Mendel coined the term “factors”, which we now call “genes”, which determined the expression of the plant traits. This was the beginning of the science of genetics.  Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) From a series of stamps honoring German Scientists Danzig, Scott 238 (1939) From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain Mendel died at the age of 61 on January 6, 1884, at the abbey in Brno. Unfortunately, Mendel published his discoveries in a relatively obscure scientific journal, and as a result there was very little appreciation of the importance of his work during his lifetime. However, around the turn of the century two scientists, Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, independently corroborated Mendel’s findings and rediscovered Mendel’s writings. They called attention to Mendel being the first to articulate their theories, and thus focused attention on the importance of his work. As a result, Mendel received overdue credit for his discoveries and achieved posthumous fame as the “Father of Genetics.” REFERENCES |
