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Biography of Johann Gregor Mendel

Name and Name Modifications:
Johann was the given name of Mendel, whereas Gregor was his name in the
Augustinian Order.
Dates of Birth and Death:
() 22 July 1822 in Heinzendorf near to Neu-Titschein (today Odrau), Moravia,
Austria, today Vrazne-Hyncice, district Nov
y Jicin, Czechia
() 6 January 1884 in Br
unn, Moravia, Austria, today Bron, Czechia
Family Data:
Mendels parents were Anton and Rosine Mendel, nee Schwiertlich, his father
was farmer. He had an older and a younger sister.
In 1843, Mendel joined the Catholic order of the Augustinians, he therefore
never married. He died from chronic nephritis.
Education:
As he was still a child, Johann Mendel helped in the garden and with beekeeper. He attended the Gymnasium in Troppau. During 1840-1843 he was
educated at the Philosophical Institute in Olm
utz. His professor of physics
Friedrich Franz recommended him to join the Augustinians in 1843, who had
the Abbey St. Thomas in Br
unn. Therefore he could continue to do research.
During 1844-1848 he studied Theology in Br
unn and was ordained priest in
1847. His order sent him as an assistant teacher for Latin, Greek, German
and Mathematics to the Gymnasium in Znaim.
After having failed teachers examination his Abbot sent him for further studies to the University of Vienna (1851-1853), where Mendel studied mathematics, zoology, botany, paleontology and Chemistry. Then Mendel taught
for fourteen years at the German Oberrealschule as assistant teacher, but
again failed in the school examination in 1856, in spite of the fact that he
liked to teach and his students liked him.
Professional Career:
In 1868, Gregor Mendel became Abbot of the Augustinian Abbey Altbr
unn.
Besides his appointment as teacher, Mendel made research in meteorology
and the cultivation of plants and culture of bees. His experiments in the

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monasterys garden with peas since 1855 led to the so-called Mendels Rules
(about heredity of features), which he introduced to the public in 1865, but
which found no recognition. After his election as an Abbot in 1868 he had
not much time left to continue his research. His work was only rediscovered
at the beginning of the 20th century by Hugo de Vries (1848-1935), Carl
Correns (1864-1933) and Erich Tschermak (1871-1962) who independently
found the same results. His results later became the base for the modern
evolution biology. His notes and manuscripts on the culture of bees were
destroyed without being published. Only in 1900 his scientific findings were
not recognized.
Publications:
Versuche u
ber Pflanzen-Hypbriden (vorgelegt in den Sitzungen am 8.
Februar und 8. Marz 1865), at first published in: Verhandlungen des
Naturforschenden Vereins in Br
unn f
ur das Jahr 1865 (Br
unn 1866;
Gottingen 1983; Thun 1995, 2000, 2006), http://www.mendelweb.org/MWGerText.
html (24 August 2007), English: Experiments in plant hybridisation
(Edinburgh 1965), also: Gregor Mendels experiments on plant hybrids:
a guided study (Rutgers University Press 2006).
Gregor Mendels Briefe an Carl Nageli 1866-1873; ein Nachtrag zu den
veroffentl. Bastardisierungsversuchen Mendels (Leipzig 1905).
Grundlagen der Vererbungslehre (Bielefeld 1929; Bielefeld 1938).
J. Sajner (ed.), Autobiographia iuvenilis: ad centesimum quinquagesimum J.G. Mendel natalem (Brunensis 1972).
Gregor Mendels Briefe an Carl Nageli 1866-1873 (Norderstedt 2008).

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Bibliography:
Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of scientific biography, vol. IX
(New York 1974) pp. 277-283.
Giornata Lincea nella Ricorrenza del Centenario della Riscoperta delle leggi
di Mendel (Roma 2001).
Atti del Convegno per la celebrazone del cenetnario della riscoperta delle
leggi di Mendel (Napoli 2002).
Alexander Alland, Evolution und menschliches Verhalten (Frankfurt 1970).
Manfred Baur, Gregor Mendel und die klassische Genetik (Gr
unwald 1994).
Peter J. Bowler, The Mendelian revolution: the emergence of hereditarian
concepts in modern science and society (Baltimore 1989; London 1989).
Alain F. Corcos, Gregor Mendels experiments on plant hybrids: a guided
study (New Brunswick 1993).
Gerhard Czikak, Johann Gregor Mendel: dokumentierte Biogeaphie und
Katalog zur Ged
achtnisausstellung anlalich des hundersten Todestages mit
Faksimile seines Hauptwerkes Versuche u
ber Pflanzenhybriden (Salzburg
1984).
Lindley Darden, Theory change in science: strategies from Mendelian genetics (New York 1991).
Kurt Fassmann (ed.), Die Groen: Leben und Leistung von sechshundert
bedeutendsten Personlichkeiten unserer Welt. Band 8: Darwin bis Nietzsche
(Lachen am Z
urichsee 1989, 1995).
Wilma George, Gregor Mendel and heredity (London 1975).
A. Haas, Mendel, Gregor, Lexikon f
ur Theologie und Kirche 7 (Freiburg
1986) col. 269.
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M
onch im Garten: die Geschichte des Gregor Mendel und die Entdeckung
der Genetik (Berlin 2001).
Robin Marantz Henig, A monk and two peas: the story of Gregor Mendel
and the discovery of genetics (London 2001).
Hugo Iltis, Gregor Johann Mendel: Leben, Werk, Wirkung (Berlin 1924),
englisch: Life of Mendel (London 1966).
Milan Jakubcek, Bibliographia Mendeliana (Brno 1965).
Koch/Meyer-Abich, Mendel, in: Fritz Krafft (Hrsg.), Lexikon groer
Naturwissenschaftler. Vorsto ins Unbekannte (Wiesbaden 2004) pp. 295f.
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zu seinem Wirken und Leben (Leipzig 1965).
Ingo Krumbiegel, Gregor Mendel und das Schicksal seiner Entdeckung
(Stuttgart 1967).
Juan Ramon Lacadena, La genetica ayer y hoy: en el centenario de [Gregor

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Johann ] Mendel (Madrid 1984).

Herbert Lamprecht, Die Grundlagen der Mendelschen Gesetze. Zur Kenntnis und Kritik der von Mendel erhaltenen Spaltungsverh
altnisse (Berlin
1968).
Herbert Lamprecht, Die neue Genekarte von Pisum und warum Mendel in
seinen Erbsenkreuzungen keine Genenkoppelung gefunden hat (Graz 1968).
Wolf-Ekkehard Lonnig, Johann Gregor Mendel: warum seine Entdeckungen 35 (72) Jahre ignoriert wurden: ein paar kritische Kommentare von
Pionieren der Genetik swie weiteren Biologen und Biologiehistorikern zur
Wirkung des Darwinismus auf die biologische Forschung (Koln 2002).
Jose Lopez Sanchez, Gregorio Mendel 1822-1972: Museo Historico de Las
Ciencias Carlos J. Finley, La Habana 1974 (La Habana 1974).
Rolf Lother, Wegbereiter der Genetik: Gregor Johann Mendel und August
Weismann (Leipzig 1989; Frankfurt 1990).
Walther Mann, Erinnerungen an Johann Gregor Mendel: mit einem Faksimile des Manuskriptes von Mendels Arbeit Versuche u
ber Pflanzenhybriden Br
unn 1865 (Darmstadt 1992).
Simon Mawer, Gregor Mendel: planting the seeds of genetics (New York
2006).
Roland N. Nardone, Mendel centenary: genetics, development and evolution (Washington 1968).
Hans Stubbe, History of genetics: from prehistoric times to the rediscovery
of Mendels laws (Cambridge 1972).
Colin Tudge, In Mendels footnotes: an introduction to the science and technologies of genes and genetics from the Nineteenth Century to the TwentySecond (London 2000).
Vitezslav Orel, Mendel as a beekeeper: published in honour of the centenary
of the publication of Mendels discoveries in Brno in 1865 (Brno 1965).
Vitezslav Orel, Proceedings of the Gregor Mendel Colloquium, June 29-July
3, 1970 (Brno 1971).
Vitezslav Orel, Gregor Mendel: the first geneticist (Oxford 1996).
Roger J. Wood, Vitezslav Orel, Genetic prehistory in selective breeding: a
prelude to Mendel (Oxford 2001).
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1993/94).
http://www.zum.de/Faecher/Bio/SA/stoff10/mendel1.htm (24 August 2007).
http://www.garten-literatur.de/Leselaube/persoen/mendel.htm (24 August
2007).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor Mendel (24 August 2007).

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Author(s) of this contribution:

Claudia von Collani

Version: 1.00