Man of Science, Man of God: Gregor Johann Mendel | The Institute for Creation Research

Man of Science, Man of God: Gregor Johann Mendel

Who: Gregor Johann Mendel
What: Father of Modern Genetics
When: July 20, 1822 - January 6, 1884
Where: Heinzendorf, Hapsburg Empire (Modern-Day Czech Republic)

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian-born, German-speaking Augustinian monk who is famously known as the founder of the modern study of genetics, though his work did not receive much recognition until after his death.

He was born Johann Mendel to a peasant family in the village of Heinzendorf of the Hapsburg Empire, now known as Hyncice of the Czech Republic. As a child, he worked alongside his father to improve the family orchards by grafting, a practice encouraged and sponsored by the land's feudal proprietor, the Countess Maria Truchsess-Ziel.1 Since grafting was a particular "art" that produced both desirable and undesirable results, working in the orchards introduced the young Mendel to the beginnings of his experimental botany work.

When he was 11, Mendel's schoolmasters recognized his talent for learning and convinced his parents to let him pursue a higher education and, hopefully, a better vocation than the harsh life of a farmer. His parents were frequently unable to cover all of his living expenses in addition to paying his tuition, and he had to work to feed himself. Often he had to do without. In 1838, his father suffered a severe injury that prevented him from doing hard physical labor. The younger Mendel, at 16, then had to entirely support himself and his education.

He graduated from the "gymnasium" at Troppau on August 7, 1840, with high honors, taking first place in all his examinations. Between 1840 and 1843, he studied at the Philosophical Institute in the nearby city of Olomouc. Then, upon recommendation of his physics teacher, Father Franz, he entered the Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas in Brünn (present-day Brno), adopting the name Gregor when he entered the monastic life.

He was sent to the University of Vienna between 1851 and 1853 to study botany, zoology, chemistry, and physics, and returned to the abbey in Brünn to teach. Between 1856 and 1863, he cultivated some 29,000 pea plants (Pisum sativum). The study showed that out of four plants, one received recessive alleles, two were hybrids, and one had the dominant alleles. His experiments were the foundation for two generalizations known today as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. Based on his work, he produced the paper Experiments on Plant Hybridization and read it to the Natural History Society of Brünn in 1865. The society published the paper in its Proceedings in 1866.

Mendel's paper was rejected at first, since he evidently produced it as a counter to Darwin's theory of pangenesis, which was popular at the time and accepted as being responsible for inheritance.2 In 1868, Mendel was elevated to the position of abbot, and his scientific work was largely displaced by his administrative and ministerial responsibilities. He died in 1884 at the age of 61 from chronic kidney inflammation, and the abbot who succeeded him burned most of his papers.

In 1900, Mendel's work was rediscovered and is now the foundation of the science of genetics. In the past hundred years or so, his work has still received criticism and some have gone so far as to accuse Mendel of scientific fraud, even though his experiments have been recreated with the same results. Others have tried to shoehorn his work into the theory of modern evolutionary synthesis, which combines Mendelian genetics with natural selection and gradual evolution.

Though Mendel cannot speak for himself today and defend his work, his life as a priest testifies to his faith in the Creator God. After all, it is one thing to make confession in published books and papers, and it is another to dedicate one's life to those convictions.

References

  1. Mendel, G., A. Corcos, and F. Monaghan. 1993. Gregor Mendel's Experiments on Plant Hybrids: A Guided Study. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
  2. See Bishop, B. E. 1996. Mendel's Opposition to Evolution and to Darwin. The Journal of Heredity. 87 (3): 205-213.

* Ms. Dao is Assistant Editor.

Cite this article: Dao, C. 2008. Man of Science, Man of God: Gregor Johann Mendel. Acts & Facts. 37 (10): 8.

The Latest
NEWS
Microscopic Ingenuity: Stentor and the Case for Intelligent Design
What if the smallest creatures held the biggest clues to life’s design? A 2025study in Nature Physics investigates the remarkable behaviors of...

CREATION PODCAST
Dr. Jeff Tomkins | A Scientist's Journey to Creationism | The...
ICR’s science staff have spent more than 50 years researching scientific evidence that refutes evolutionary philosophy...

NEWS
Early Fish Evolution?
The discovery of a new species of a plant or animal would probably not spark much excitement to the non-scientist. But in this case, the conditions...

NEWS
Make Plans to Attend Our Estate Planning Workshop at the Discovery...
Did you know that up to 75% of Americans over 18 have no retirement or estate plans? Don’t wait to prepare for the future. Join us on Saturday, October...

NEWS
Fossil Confusion in Ethiopia: Are Evolutionary Trees Built on...
A new study published in Nature describes the discovery of 13 fossilized teeth from the Ledi-Geraru site in Ethiopia. They have been dated to between...

NEWS
The Only Mesozoic Dragonfly in Canada—Is a Dragonfly
In 2023, an undergraduate student from McGill University discovered a new dragonfly species in Alberta, Canada. In fact, “This is the first ever...

CREATION PODCAST
Dr. Jake Hebert | Journey to ICR | The Creation Podcast: Episode...
ICR’s science staff have spent more than 50 years researching scientific evidence that refutes evolutionary philosophy...

NEWS
Oldest Evidence of Butterflies
Insects such as the ubiquitous butterfly belong to the huge phylum Arthropoda (creatures having paired, jointed appendages and a chitinous exoskeleton)....

NEWS
Another Big Mistake in Evolution
The strange and wonderful coelacanth1 has long been a challenge to evolutionists. The coelacanth has long been hailed as an ancestor...

ACTS & FACTS
ICR 2025 Resource Catalog
At the Institute for Creation Research, our mission is not only to conduct research demonstrating how science confirms Scripture but also to share this...