Gregor Mendel
Founder of Physics
Description
Early Years
Mendel grew up being a very gifted child. He had many great relationships with his teachers and fellow students, and he was very good in math and science. Gregor Mendel also had many struggles. He grew up being very poor living on a farm. In his high school years, he could not pass his exams, either. He failed several times.
Experimental Design
Gregor Mendel decided to study heredity by using pea pods. He would watch the pea pods as they would grow, and see how many of each color, size, and shape were produced. Gregor also noticed that certain traits can be passed down through the pods, even if they did not seem present at the time. This is called a recessive gene, one that gets covered up by a dominant gene. The dominant gene will over power another gene, and CoDominant genes show that both are present. This information helped Mendel go on to learn more about the human genes and DNA.
Data
In Mendels data, it shows that there are about 5,474 pods with a round shape, 428 pods with a green color, and 787 pods that were long in shape. The data also showed that there were only 1/3 as many angular pods, 1/3 as many yellow pods, and 1/3 as many short pods. This data shows that even though certain genes might show up less often, they are still there.
Reactions
Many of the scientists thought Mendel was showing things that were already known about genes, and they did not see how they could relate to other organisms. Later on, they started to see his idea better.
Foundation
He proved through pea pods that there can be a certain trait there even if it does not seem present.