Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk and scientist who is often called the father of genetics. In his study of pea plants, Mendel used a method called cross-pollination to produce offspring. By cross-pollinating plants with contrasting traits, such as tall and short stems or yellow and green flowers, Mendel was able to determine which traits were dominant and which were recessive.
Mendel observed that the traits of the offspring were determined by the traits of the parents. For example, if one parent had green flowers and another had yellow flowers, all of their offspring would have yellow flowers. He also observed that there are two copies of each gene, one from each parent. This allowed him to make predictions about how genes would be inherited in future generations based on their frequency in a given population at any given time.
Mendel’s work showed that genes are inherited in a predictable manner. It laid the foundation for the science of genetics by showing how characteristics like eye color or flower color could be passed down from generation to generation through heredity.
