Experiments on Plant Hybridization Experiments on Plant Hybridization "Experiments on Plant Hybridization" (German: "Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden") is a seminal paper written in 1865 and published in 1866 by Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian friar considered to be the founder of modern genetics. The paper was the result after years spent studying genetic traits in "Pisum sativum", the pea plant. Mendel read his paper to the Natural History Society of Brünn. It was published in the "Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brünn" the following year. In his paper, Mendel compared pairs of discrete traits: Through experimentation, Mendel discovered that one inheritable trait would invariably
Gregor Mendel next thirty-five years. His paper was criticized at the time, but is now considered a seminal work. Notably, Charles Darwin was not aware of Mendel's paper, and it is envisaged that if he had been aware of it, genetics as we know it now might have taken hold much earlier. Mendel's scientific biography thus provides an example of the failure of obscure, highly original, innovators to receive the attention they deserve. Mendel began his studies on heredity using mice. He was at St. Thomas's Abbey but his bishop did not like one of his friars studying animal sex, so Mendel