Gregor Mendel, who was the first person to trace the characteristics of successive generations of a living thing, was not a world-renowned scientist of his time. Rather, he was an Augustinian monk who was trying to get a teacher's degree. Mendel studied at the St. Thomas Monastery of the Augustinian Order in Brunn around 1850. Mendel started his research of heredity by breeding different varieties of mice, but some other monks weren't really very supportive of what Mendel was doing and he was forced to stop those experiments. In 1851, Gregor Mendel got the chance to enter the University of Vienna for two years, to train to be a teacher of Mathematics and Biology. He was given this opportunity by the Abbot, who supported Mendel and helped him in whatever way he can. It was at the University in Vienna that Mendel developed his skills as a researcher, which he utilized later in his life.
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
Johann Gregor Mendel
English: Scan of frontispiece from the book "Mende...Mendel had many theories about the inheritance of traits and heredity but he wasn't able to share it with the public until he was completely sure of his proof. During Mendel's time, anyone that had any idea that was against the government and religion's beliefs was not tolerated and people were often put in prison because of such reasons. However, that did not stop Mendel from doing research with peas of different varieties and seeing what kinds of traits those peas had. Mendel didn't believe that the female was just an incubator and he intended to prove it to the whole scientific community. The Abbot gave Mendel a chance to make his own greenhouse and this was where Mendel carried out all his experiments with peas and was helped greatly by his friend from the University. After countless experiments and proving them with mathematical...