Gregor Johann Mendel (1822–1884) was an Austrian monk, botanist, and Augustinian friar who is considered the father of modern genetics. He conducted pioneering experiments on pea plants in the garden of his monastery in Brno (now in the Czech Republic) between 1856 and 1863. Through these experiments, Mendel discovered the fundamental laws of inheritance, now known as Mendel's Laws, which describe how traits are passed from parents to offspring via dominant and recessive factors (genes)
. Mendel's work established that genes come in pairs and segregate independently during reproduction, explaining patterns of heredity with a mathematical approach. Despite publishing his results in 1866, his findings were largely ignored until around 1900, when other scientists rediscovered and confirmed his conclusions
. His research laid the foundation for the science of genetics and has become a cornerstone of biology
. In addition to his scientific work, Mendel was a priest and later abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brno. He died in 1884, with his contributions gaining recognition only posthumously
