Who Initiated the study of heridity?
The resemblance of children to their parents is a matter of common observation. But it is only from the time of Gregor Mendel that a serious scientific investigation into the mechanism of characteristics from generation to generation, was undertaken.
Gregor Mendel
This great experimenter published his findings in 1866. Before him practically nothing was known about this mechanism.
Mendel was not a scientist by vocation. He developed a great curiosity about inheritance and conducted experiments involving a variety of cultivated plants-garden pea!
Unfortunately the biological world was not ready for his findings. It was ignored, till rediscovered in 1900! It was never known to him or his contemporaries that he made one of the greatest scientific contributions of all time.
All organisms develop from a single cell, be it a plant or animal. This cell is formed by the union of two germ cells one from the male another from the female.
Since Mendel’s time, the term "gene" has replaced his term "character".
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