Gregor Mendel, a 19th century monk, is the founder of modern genetics. He is famous for his pea plant experiments which helped to establish some of the now accepted laws of heredity. Heredity is when certain traits like eye colour, height, and athletic ability are passed from the parents to the children. In biology the study of heredity is called genetics.
In 1856, Mendel began studying hereditary features in pea plants, and concluded that all living things, including humans, passed on their characteristics to their children in predictable ways.
Mendel grew, and tested almost 28,000 pea plants during 8 years of research. He came up with the terms recessive and dominant, to describe type of genes that are passed down through generations.
Mendel’s findings, which he presented on meetings of the natural history society of Brno, in 1865, were rejected by his fellow scientists while he was alive. It wasn’t until later that his work was rediscovered and confirmed through further experimentation.