Gregor Mendel, OSA (1822–1884), founder of scientific genetics

Dunn, P M

Department of Child Health, University of Bristol, Southmead Hospital, Southmead, Bristol BS10 5BN, UK; [email protected]

Correspondence to: Professor Dunn Department of Child Health, University of Bristol, Southmead Hospital, Southmead, Bristol BS10 5BN, UK; [email protected]

Accepted 12 June 2003

Archives of Disease in Childhood, Fetal & Neonatal Edition 88(6):p F537-F539, November 2003.

Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk and part-time school teacher, undertook a series of brilliant hybridisation experiments with garden peas between 1857 and 1864 in the monastery gardens and, using statistical methods for the first time in biology, established the laws of heredity, thereby establishing the discipline of genetics.