Mendel

Fülszöveg

General Editor Keith Thomas In the garden of a Moravian monastery Gregor Mendel (1822-84) conducted experiments with peas which proved to be the foundation of modern genetics. Asked later by a visitor how he had reshaped his plants, Mendel replied, 'It is just a little trick, but there is a long story connected with it, which would take too long to teli/ That story is the subject of this book. It describes how Mendel, a peasant's son, by entering the Church gained the opportunity to pursue his interest in natural science. In 1865 he propounded what are now called Mendel's Laws of Heredity; he had proved that parental characteristics did not blend in their progeny, as had been supposed for centuries, but were transmitted as, and remained, discrete factors - later called genes. When he became abbot and increasingly involved in extraneous affairs, Mendel's scientific activity declined, though he continued to do notable work in horticulture, bee-keeping and meteorology. For years after... Tovább

Fülszöveg

General Editor Keith Thomas In the garden of a Moravian monastery Gregor Mendel (1822-84) conducted experiments with peas which proved to be the foundation of modern genetics. Asked later by a visitor how he had reshaped his plants, Mendel replied, 'It is just a little trick, but there is a long story connected with it, which would take too long to teli/ That story is the subject of this book. It describes how Mendel, a peasant's son, by entering the Church gained the opportunity to pursue his interest in natural science. In 1865 he propounded what are now called Mendel's Laws of Heredity; he had proved that parental characteristics did not blend in their progeny, as had been supposed for centuries, but were transmitted as, and remained, discrete factors - later called genes. When he became abbot and increasingly involved in extraneous affairs, Mendel's scientific activity declined, though he continued to do notable work in horticulture, bee-keeping and meteorology. For years after his death his classic theory went almost unrecognised, and as a result the exact nature of his research was lost to sight. Reconstructing the pea experiments, Vítézslav Orel explains Mendel's theory and how it was eventually incorporated into the mainstream of scientific progress. The myth persists that Mendel worked in isolation, stumbling almost by chance on his momentous discoveries. This was not so. Vítézslav Orel's account, based on the latest findings, reveals the extent to which Mendel's research built on contemporary knowledge of hybridisation, fertilisation and animal breeding, and was influenced by his own study of natural science at Vienna Uhiversity. What emerges is a new picture of the origin and the essence of Mendel's brilliant achievement. Vítézslav Orel is Head of the Mendelianum at the Moravian Museum, Brno. Vissza