Essay about Poem: Gregor Mendel

Submitted By goatsarenicee
Words: 1105
Pages: 5

Gregor Mendel

2-7-12
Period 2
Life story

Mendel was born into a German family on July 22, 1822. He was the son of Anton and Rosine Mendel, and had two sisters. They lived and worked on a farm, which had been owned by the Mendel family for about 130 years. While Mendel was a child he was a gardener, and tended to bees. Gregor was going in the path to be a monk. But he loved nature and plants. Mendel was later inspired to study different plants. As a young man he went to a school in Opova. From 1840 to 1843, he studied practical and theoretical philosophy as well as physics at the University of Olomouc.
In 1843 Mendel began his training as a priest, upon recommendation of his physics teacher Franz. He joined the Augustinian Abbey of St Thomas in Brno in 1843. Born Johann Mendel He changed it to Gregor upon entering religious life. In 1851 he was sent to the University of Vienna to study. At Vienna, his professor of physics was Christian Doppler. Mendel returned in 1853 as a teacher, primarily of physics. Mendel asked permission to the head monks at the monastery to let him test there. Mendel kept small pea plants and experimented with their crosses. Between the years of 1866 and 1863 Mendel had grown about 28000 pea plants. He also found interest in astronomy and meteorology, He founded the Australian Meteorological Society' in 1865. Most of Gregor published work had something to do with meteorology.

Mendel knew that there were several factors that needed to be known in order to understand the inheritance of characteristics. Mendel needed to study the parental plants to learn their characteristics. To establish this Mendel took an entire year to test “true breeding” plant line, each having constant characteristics. The experimental plants also needed to produce flowers that would be easy to protect against foreign pollen. The special characteristics of the “Leguminosae” family, with their unique shape, interested him. On trying many kinds from the family Mendel chose the garden pea plant as being the most practical for his needs. He also chose the pea plant because of its fast reproduction. Like other plants, pea plants have both male and female reproductive organs this means that they can either self-pollinate themselves or cross-pollinate with other plants. Mendel was able to cross-pollinate purebred plants with specific traits and observe their outcome over time. Mendel observed seven pea plant traits that are easily recognized in one of two forms: 1. Flower color: purple or white
2. Flower position: axial or terminal
3. Stem length: long or short
4. Seed shape: round or wrinkled
5. Seen color: yellow or green
6. Pod shape: inflated or constricted
7. Pod color: yellow or green

Mendel's Law of Segregation Mendel's theory basically has four parts. The first part (often referred to as law by most scientist), describes the inherited gene traits “Alternative versions of genes account for variations in inherited characters.” Alleles are different versions of genes that impart the same characteristic. The second law states that for every trait there are two parent plants, “For each character trait an organism inherits two genes, one from each parent. These alleles may be the same, or different.
The third law, in part with the second, declares that, “If the two alleles differ, then one, the dominant allele, is fully expressed in the organism's appearance; the other, the recessive allele, has no noticeable effect on the organism's appearance.” Meaning if two alleles differ than the dominant allele takes over the whole organisms traits.
The fourth law states that, “The two genes for each character separate during gamete production.” Known as generalization. During this time, genes switch in a random and yet very specific way. According to Mendel “Genes for each trait only trade with genes of the same trait on the