Celebrating Gregor Mendel the father of genetics – The Science Show – ABC News

Gregor Mendel was born two hundred years ago in 1822 in a village in Silecia, then part of the Austrian Empire, almost 200 Km north of Brno in todays Czechia. At the age of 21 he entered the abbey first as a friar and later becoming abbot. While he was devoted to his religion, he was also devoted to science and being at the abbey gave him time to pursue his interest in biology. He conducted experiments with peas and other plants, and through careful observation and record-keeping came up with a theory of inheritance which forms the basis of modern biology. Pauline Newman visits the abbey in the old centre of Brno and the Mendel Museum there. She reports on the life of Gregor Mendel, how he was able to pursue his biological observations and how his results and ideas fitted with other thoughts of the time, particularly those of Charles Darwin.

GuestsBlankaKovDirector, Mendel MuseumMasaryk UniversityBrno, Czechia

Tom McLeishProfessor of Natural PhilosophyDepartment of PhysicsUniversity of YorkEngland UK

Daniel FairbanksProfessor of BiologyUtah Valley UniversityOrem, Utah USA

Ard LouisProfessor of Theoretical PhysicsUniversity of OxfordOxford UK

ReporterPauline Newman

PresenterRobyn Williams

ProducerDavid Fisher

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Celebrating Gregor Mendel the father of genetics - The Science Show - ABC News