Gregor Mendel and Classical Genetics
Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) was a German-speaking Silesian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the modern science of genetics.
Though farmers had known for centuries that crossbreeding of animals and plants could favor certain desirable traits, Mendel's pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and
1863 established many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.
Mendel worked with seven characteristics of pea plants: plant height, pod shape and color, seed shape and color, and flower position and color. With seed color, he showed that
when a yellow pea and a green pea were bred together their offspring plant was always yellow. However, in the next generation of plants, the green peas reappeared at a ratio of 1:3.
To explain this phenomenon, Mendel coined the terms "recessive" and "dominant" in reference to certain traits. (In the preceding example, green peas are recessive and yellow peas are dominant.)
He published his work in 1866, demonstrating the actions of invisible "factors" - now called genes - in providing for visible traits in predictable ways.
(from wikipedia.org)
Gregor Mendel and Classical Genetics |
Related Links |
Gregor Mendel - wikipedia Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) was a German-speaking Silesian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the modern science of genetics. |
MendelWeb MendelWeb is an educational resource for teachers and students interested in the origins of classical genetics, introductory data analysis, elementary plant science, and the history and literature of science. |
Gregor Mendel: From the Garden to the Genome Produced by J. Lee Sedwick, M.D., F.A.C.S., and written and directed by Larry Gardner, this film tells the life and work of Gregor Mendel and his legacy. |
100 Greatest Discoveries - Genetics This episode recounts thirteen important discoveries related to genetics, including Gregor Mendel's discovery of rules of heredity, and James Watson and Francis Crick's discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule. |
e-Books |
Mendel's Principles of Heredity Author: William Bateson, 1861-1926; Gregor Mendel, 1822-1884. Subject: Mendel's law; Evolution; Heredity; Hybridization. Publisher: Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. Book Contributor: MBLWHOI Library. |
Experiments in Plant-Hybridization Author: Gregor Mendel, 1822-1884; William Bateson, 1861-1926. Subject: Hybridization, Vegetable. Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. Book Contributor: MBLWHOI Library. |
The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity Author: Thomas Hunt Morgan, 1866-1945. Subject: Mendel's law; Genetics; Chromosomes. Publisher: New York, Holt. Book Contributor: MBLWHOI Library. |
Mendelism Author: Reginald Crundall Punnett, b. 1875. Subject: Heredity; Mendel's law. Publisher: London, The Macmillan Co. Book Contributor: Cornell University Library. |