Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) is regarded as the Father of Modern Genetics. He was born in a Silesian region now in the Czech Republic. He was an Augustinian Monk and the Abbot of the St Thomas Abbey in Brno of Moravia. Born of peasant parents, he had to find his own means for his study. After joining the Augustinian monastery, he studied physics at the University of Vienna. His professional career as a priest and a scientist is an eloquent example of the reconciliation and harmony between science and faith.

Though the cross breeding of plants and animals were known to the farmers for long, the experiments that Mendel performed with pea plants in the kitchen garden of his Abbey laid the foundations of the laws of heredity. The findings of Mendel are now framed as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

He conducted his experiments between 1856 and 1863. He focused on the seven characteristics of pea plants such as height, shape of the pod, colour of the pod, shape of the seed, colour of the seed, position of the flower and colour of the flower. He coined the terms dominant and recessive to denote the genetic traits that are immediately expressed in the first filial generation and that was absent in the first generation respectively. In his work published in 1866, he argued that there are invisible factors within an organism that are influencing the traits of a given organism. The factors mentioned by Mendel is what is termed as genes in modern genetics. However, it was only in the 20th Century that the works of Mendel received their due recognition. Though he was disappointed by the poor response to his work, he is said to have told one of his colleagues that “My time will come.” The later discovery of the structure of DNA and the developments with human genome project, rest upon the foundations laid by Mendel.

Mendel’s works have been criticized by scientists like R.A. Fisher that he has compromised the observational results for his expectations, accusing him of scientific fraud. However, several others have shown that Fisher incorrectly interpreted Mendel’s experiments and his experiments were recreated later with the same results.

Though an acclaimed scientist following strictly the observational and experimental methods of science, he earnestly continued his pastoral and preaching services. Being elected Abbot in 1668, he had only limited time for his scientific experiments. He preached regular sermons. His favoured topic was the victory of Christ over death represented in Easter. Christine Dao comments of Mendel: “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.”