Who is known as the father of genetics?

Who is known as the father of genetics?

• A. Gregor Mendel
• B. Charles Darwin
• C. Louis Pasteur
• D. Alexander Fleming

Answer: (A)

Inheritance follows predictable patterns that Mendel uncovered through careful, quantitative experiments with pea plants. He bred true-breeding lines and then crossed them, counting how often each trait appeared in successive generations. From those counts he showed that heredity is controlled by discrete factors that come in different versions, which we now call genes. These factors segregate when gametes form, so offspring receive one version from each parent. He also showed that, for many traits, the combination of factors inherited for one trait is independent of the combination inherited for another, leading to predictable ratios. A classic result is that crossing a true-breeding tall plant with a true-breeding short plant produces offspring that are all tall in the first generation, and when those offspring are crossed among themselves, about three tall to one short reappear in the next generation. This demonstrates dominant and recessive traits and the basic mechanics of inheritance. The other scientists mentioned contributed to different fields—Darwin to evolution by natural selection, Pasteur to germ theory and microbial science, Fleming to antibiotics—so Mendel’s systematic approach to how traits pass from parent to offspring is what earned him the title in genetics.

Inheritance follows predictable patterns that Mendel uncovered through careful, quantitative experiments with pea plants. He bred true-breeding lines and then crossed them, counting how often each trait appeared in successive generations. From those counts he showed that heredity is controlled by discrete factors that come in different versions, which we now call genes. These factors segregate when gametes form, so offspring receive one version from each parent. He also showed that, for many traits, the combination of factors inherited for one trait is independent of the combination inherited for another, leading to predictable ratios.

A classic result is that crossing a true-breeding tall plant with a true-breeding short plant produces offspring that are all tall in the first generation, and when those offspring are crossed among themselves, about three tall to one short reappear in the next generation. This demonstrates dominant and recessive traits and the basic mechanics of inheritance.

The other scientists mentioned contributed to different fields—Darwin to evolution by natural selection, Pasteur to germ theory and microbial science, Fleming to antibiotics—so Mendel’s systematic approach to how traits pass from parent to offspring is what earned him the title in genetics.