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Gregor Mendel - Monk and Scientist

By Melissa Kelly, About.com

Birth:

July 22, 1822, Heizendorf, then Austrian Silesia

Death:

January 6, 1884, Austria

Early Influences:

  • Grew up on an orchard and farm

Education:

  • Studied for two years at the Philosophical Institute at Olmutz Czechslovakia
  • Entered an Augustinian monastery in 1843
  • Studied physics, chemistry, mathematics, zoology and botany at the University of Vienna from 1851-53

Major Accomplishments:

  • Ordained a priest in 1847
  • Elected abbot of his monastery in 1868
  • Presented his findings on heredity to the Natural Science Society in 1865
  • Published his finding in 1866 entitled "Versuche uber Pflanzenhybriden"

Significance:

  • Discovered the first laws of heredity
  • Laid the foundation for modern genetics
  • Was a well-loved monk and abbot who only became famous after his death

Contemporaries:

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