April 5th, 2010

HISTORY SCIENCE
Growing the Stem of Genetics
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk and biologist that discovered a new science of genetics about inheritance. He studied the inheritance of certain traits in a domestic pea plant named Pisum, which he grew in the monastery. He tested over 28000 pea plants for several years. He discovered that inheritance of certain traits had laws. All Mendels work was recognized until the 20th century. He discovered two essential laws about genetics and inheritance. The first law says that for each gene there are two alleles, one from the father and one from the mother. The dominant allele will be expressed over the recessive allele. The two alleles segregate during gametes (sex cells) production. The second law says that during the gamete formation, the distributions of each allele of a pair of homologous chromosomes are independent. His experiments were all based on pea plants, because they were easy to breed and had different traits, and thats what interested him. The famous pea experiment consisted in transferring the pollen from one pea plant with a specific characteristic to another pea plant. Before Mendel, there were other scientists that noticed the difference, but what Mendel did was to use mathematics to tell what was happening to the cell. He noticed that each gene controlled the trait. In sexual reproduction, the genes separate and only one is passed to the offspring. He also noticed that inheritance can be influenced by the environment. In 1866, Mendel published his work, but didnt get recognized. In 1900, Hugo de Vries, a botanist, recognized the great work of Mendel, but it was until 1920 and 1930 that it was fully recognize as the science that will change all. Vries and Carl Correns used Mendels experiment in an article. Thanks to Mendel, now we know that diseases and pedigrees are hereditary sometimes. The genetic theory isnt questioned anymore, because what Mendel discovered, wasnt only a change in plants but also a change in people and the way we live now. Now we all see the world clearly thanks to GREGOL MENDEL.

Resources:
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0118084/History/Mendel.htm http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/mendelexperiments.html http://www.fieldmuseum.org/mendel/story_pea.asp http://www.zephyrus.co.uk/gregormendel.html http://www.creationsafaris.com/images/mendel.jpg