- Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk who discovered the basic principles of heredity through experiments breeding pea plants in his monastery garden in the mid-1800s.
- His experiments showed that certain traits are inherited in predictable patterns, with dominant traits masking recessive traits, and his findings became the foundation of modern genetics and the study of heredity.
- Mendel is considered the founder of genetics and his work was ahead of its time, though it was not widely recognized until after his death.