Gregor Mendel: His Life and Legacy

by Daniel J Fairbanks

Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics, is renowned as one of the world’s most ingenious and influential scientists. Nonetheless, he remains misunderstood and enigmatic, his history shrouded in controversy and myth. Escaping poverty, he joined a scholarly community of Augustinian friars in a monastery and studied at the University of Vienna under some of Europe’s most accomplished scientists. He returned to a tumultuous milieu at the monastery as he and his fellow friars suffered a harrowing investigation accusing them of secularism and pantheistic philosophy. Against this backdrop, Mendel initiated an epic set of experiments with the common garden pea that would lead him to reveal the mystery of inheritance. The article he published would become a classic in the history of science. Darwin’s Origin of Species shook the world in 1859. Its impact eclipsed Mendel’s discovery, presented just a few years after Darwin’s pivotal book. Unlike Darwin, who witnessed his work attain immediate worldwide fame (and infamy), Mendel would never know how powerfully his discoveries would impact science and humanity; his achievements languished in obscurity until well beyond his death. “The laws governing inheritance are quite unknown,” Darwin lamented just a few pages into the Origin of Species. Mendel had discovered and presented those laws, which ultimately would bridge the most gaping chasm in Darwin’s theory. In 1900, at the dawn of the twentieth century, several influential scientists independently rediscovered Mendel’s theory, elevating it to the highest echelon of scientific triumph. The new science, christened genetics, immediately generated controversies, some of which continue to the present. Throughout modern history, proponents and detractors alike have coopted Mendel’s theory to buttress their worldviews, fueling the flames of disputes and prolonging political battles. Unquestionably, however, it has served as the foundation for some history’s greatest scientific advances. This book commemorates Mendel’s life and legacy at the bicentennial of his birth. It interweaves traditional accounts of his history with newly discovered evidence to reveal an extraordinary teacher, a resolute priest and abbot, and a complex and guileless scientist whose momentous discoveries have remained essentially unchanged for more than a century and a half.

Genres: Science, History, Biology, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

244 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2022

Reviews

[Stefan Mitev · Rating 4 out of 5]

През 1865 г. августинският монах Грегор Мендел изнася две лекции пред научната общност в град Брюн (сега Бърно, Чехия), с което поставя основите на науката генетика. Дълги години той провежда експерименти с грах и подлага резултатите на стриктен математически анализ. Чисто и просто той открива и представя законите за моногенното унаследяване, които остават непроменени и до днес.

Мендел не печели особена слава приживе за разлика от неговия съвременник Чарлз Дарвин. Книгата "Произход на видовете по пътя на естествения отбор" излиза през 1859 г., а Мендел прочита немския ѝ превод няколко години по-късно. Съвременната еволюционна теория, наречена модерен синтез, представлява комбинация от идеите на Дарвин и Мендел и доказва, че откритията на двамата велики биолози от XIX остават валидни и до днес.

[Craig Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What sets this biography apart from others of Gregor Mendel is that it is written by a scientist and master teacher who understands the science of genetics. It is fascinating to read about the influence of leading scientists on the thinking of Mendel and how that influence led Mendel to conduct and interpret his famous experiments on pea plants. Of particular interest is the remarkable insight into the connection between Darwin and Mendel, two of the most important scientists of the nineteenth century. A bonus features in the book is a new English translation of Mendel's paper that reflects the influence of Darwin's On the Origin of Species on Mendel's experimental report. It is easy to feel Dr. Fairbanks enthusiasm and admiration for his subject and that feeling rubbed off quite well onto this reader. The book is illustrated with interesting sketches by Dr. Fairbanks's own hand of people and places important to Mendel's story. As a professor of genetics, I appreciated how this important biography contributed to our understanding of the origins of the science that has been such an important part of my own scientific research. Bravo, Dr. Fairbanks. Well done!

[Matthew Ackerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author clearly admires Mendel and writes like a scholar studying all the nuances of Mendel’s words. For the person who is a “Mendelite,” this book is for you. For anyone merely interested in Mendel’s life and work, this book is rather dense with exposition.