Introduction to Genetics
Gregor Mendel, nicknamed the "father of Genetics," was an Austrian monk who conducted groundbreaking experiments with pea plants in the 1850s. He combined his knowledge of botany and math to collect tons of data that revealed how traits pass from one generation to the next.
Why pea plants? They were perfect for Mendel's experiments because they grow quickly, have many obvious traits (like purple or white flowers), and their pollination can be controlled. Mendel could either allow them to self-pollinate (when a plant's own pollen fertilizes its eggs) or perform cross-pollination by manually moving pollen between plants.
Through his meticulous experiments, Mendel established three fundamental principles of inheritance: the Principle of Dominance, the Principle of Segregation, and the Principle of Independent Assortment. These principles form the foundation of what we now call Mendelian inheritance.
Quick Fact: When Mendel crossed plants with different traits, he called the offspring "hybrids" because they were a mix of the two parent plants. These hybrids formed what scientists call the F1 generation.
