Gregor Johan Mendel Essay Research Paper Todd

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 had to be tested for their 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!)