Gregor Mendel

b.	July 22, 1822	in	Heinzendorf, Austria	http://manske.virtualave.net/nupedia/mendel.png Image in the PD
d.	January 6, 1884	in	Brunn, Austria
Gregor Johann Mendel studied the inheritance of traits in pea plants, discovering the basic laws of inheritance. He is often called the father of genetics.

During his childhood Mendel worked as a gardener, and as a young man attended the Olmutz Philosophical Institute. In 1843 he entered a Augustinian monastery in Brunn, Austria. He was later sent to the University of Vienna to study. By both his professors at University and his colleagues at the monastery, Mendel was inspired to study variance in plants. He commenced his study in his monastery's experimental garden. Between 1856 and 1863 Mendel cultivated and tested some 28,000 pea plants. His experiments brought forth two generalizations which later became known as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. Ironically, when Mendel's paper was published on 1866 in 'Proceedings of the Brunn Society for Natural History', it had little impact. It wasn't until the early 20th century that the enormity of his ideas was realized. In 1902, his work was finally rediscovered by Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns and Erich von Tschermak.