Some Mende's Contributions Most important to science have been the laws of heredity, predicting the existence of genes and new methods of investigation.
Most of the data on the life of Gregor Mendel we know them through"Gregor Johann Mendel. Leben, Werk und Wirkung »published in 1924 by Hugo Ilitz. Few new data have been found apart from those mentioned in this text.
Mendel was born on July 20, 1822 in a small village in the present Czech Republic called Heinzendorf. Although baptized under the name of Johann Mendel, he would be changed to Gregorio, years later, when ordained as a Catholic Augustinian friar in 1843.
Since he was a child he had contact with agricultural activities, but he was not limited to them. He was a brilliant young man who soon climbed through various levels of study thanks to his ease of learning.
Despite this, the costs of education at that time were not low and the order of St. Augustine, recognized for providing support to education, was a good opportunity for Mendel. He did not hesitate to go to them.
The Order of St. Augustine demanded of him a serious preparation in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, fields in which he could apply his knowledge and experience.
In 1850 he tried to obtain a certification as professor of biology and physics, however he did not obtain it. Instead he was recommended to study at the University of Vienna.
Again Mendel did not miss the opportunity and by 1853, after studying physics and mathematics, he had acquired the methodological tools that would serve him to carry out the design and planning of his experiments carefully.
Up to that time, investigations were done only by observing and recording phenomena.
But the method that Mendel used - now known as scientific method - consists in the presentation of a hypothesis and the execution of several successive experiments to prove it or not.
This insightful naturalist, meteorologist and botanist left indelible marks on science.
The 7 greatest contributions of Mendel
1. He is the father of Genetics
Although the science of genetics as we know it today was born several decades after Mendel's death, his studies on plant hybridization set the most important precedent for understanding how genes, heredity, phenotypes, and more work.
In fact, before him others who studied hybridization and general opinions about this phenomenon claimed that hybrids had a mixture of the traits of their parents or ancestors; Which were generally infertile; That the features of earlier generations could be re-established, and that the presence of certain traits depended on the"essential force"of those traits.
Mendel openly refuted these criteria in his lectures given in 1865, in which he explained the existence of certain"elements"- now known as genes - that are transmitted from generation to generation according to laws and are present even if they do not manifest themselves in form Of features.
2. He proposed new methods of research: He explained hybridization through mathematics.
By the time Mendel expounded his ideas about hybridization to the public, his studies did not receive the attention they deserved.
Although the research method was controversial and unorthodox because it added Mendel's knowledge about biology , physical And math, for most scientists was irrelevant.
His way of explaining nature with mathematics was something new at the time, even though it is now considered a basic principle of science.
3. Experienced with peas to propose broader theses
Mendel was trying to discover how the inheritance of certain characteristics in hybrid beings worked. So he chose the pea plant as his research model.
He observed that some of them were green and others yellow, smooth or rough or had violet or white flowers and that these characteristics were transmitted from generation to generation following a mathematical pattern.
The information gathered in these experiments was published in 1865 but went unnoticed.
4. Creator of the laws of inheritance
The basis and sustenance of modern genetics are the"Laws of Mendel." There are three basic principles of inheritance discovered in pea experiments:
- Law of uniformity: If two pure breeds (a dominant homozygoto with a recessive one) are crossed for a given character, the descendants of the first generation will all be equal to each other, phenotypically and genotypically, and phenotypically equal to one of the progenitors (of dominant genotype).
- Law of segregation: During the formation of the gametes, each allele of a pair is separated from the other member to determine the genetic constitution of the filial gamete.
- Independent Combination Act: Different traits are inherited independently of each other, there is no relationship between them.
5. Predicted the existence of genes
Mendel, because of the scientific moment of his time, could not fully explain why certain features of plants were kept hidden but sprang up in later generations, yet his third law is a glimpse of what we now call recessive genes and dominant genes.
The dominant genes manifest in the individual, while recessive, although not manifest, can be transmitted to the offspring.
6. Performed the first scientific description of a tornado
Although Mendel is famous for his work on inheritance and hybridization, he was also a respected meteorologist.
In 1871, he made the first scientific description of a tornado that had caused considerable damage to the city of Brno in October of the previous year. In addition, he used the same scientific method to make climate predictions.
In 2002 he recovered a screen of Stevenson (a box that protects the meteorological instruments) that was believed was used by Mendel to study the climate. He also founded the Austrian Meteorological Society
7. Conducted beekeeping experiments
Mendel was also interested in the breeding and hybridization of bees. The last ten years of his life he carried out experiments with several breeds of bees in order to understand if his mathematical model of inheritance could be applied also in other living beings.
For several years he built special cages and imported bees from around the world to observe their characteristics. In 1871 he was appointed president of the Beekeeping Association of Brno.
Mendel was never able to enjoy the worldwide fame he has today, since his work was recognized and valued worldwide several decades after his death.
A sudden infection of the kidneys killed the scientist in January 1884 at age 61.
References
- Iltis, H. (1924). Gregor Johann Mendel: Leben, Werk und Wirkung. Berlin: Julius Springer.
- Iltis, H., Eden, P., & Cedar, P. (1932). Life of Mendel. London: G. Allen & Unwin.
- International Plant Names Index. (2005). The International Plant Names Index: Author Details . Retrieved from IPNI: ipni.org.
- O'Neil, D. (2013). Anthro.palomar.edu . Obtained from Mendel's Genetics: anthro.palomar.edu.
- Rožnovský, J. (May 9, 2014). G.J. Mendel's meteorological observations. Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Brno branch office .
- Schwarzbach, E., Smýkal, P., Dostál, O., Karkovská, M., & Valová, S. (2014). Gregor J. Mendel - Genetics Founding Father. Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed , 43-51.