Mendel – The Man

A Series of Podcasts

Portrait of a person portrait of a scientist

Welcome to our series of articles Mendel, the Man. The Faculty of Science of Masaryk University wants to contribute to the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Gregor Johann Mendel, which we commemorate in 2022.

We would like to introduce Mendel as a person, personality and character. The series therefore begins with seven texts by Professor Jiřina Relichová, in which the author presents a personal portrait of Mendel based on his personal correspondence, the memories of his loved ones, and a biography and poetry written by himself.

The portrait of Mendel's personality is followed by articles presenting Mendel as a scientist with a very wide range of subjects, as a careful recorder of natural phenomena and weather in Brno and its surroundings, botany and a bee expert. With these texts, scientists from several departments of our faculty have contributed to the series.

Enjoy these articles with the sense for Mendel.

20 Jul

G. J. Mendel: generous, charitable, selfless

Mendel loved his family very much and was grateful to them. His warm emotional relationship with his family, and especially his mother, can be seen in the surviving letters he wrote home from Brno or Vienna. He addresses his parents as ‘Dearest Parents’ or ‘Beloved Parents’, and his mother and sister as ‘Dearest Mother, Dearest Sister’. In the letters, he is interested in how people in the family are doing and often mentions concern for the health of his loved ones.

20 Jun

A scientific approach to solving the question of ‘what is inherited and how’. Experiments with peas

When Mendel planned his experiments with peas, he first studied the conclusions of his predecessors, who had undertaken similar experiments with plant crosses. He was aware that this would be a difficult task.

6 Jun

The fate of man, according to G. J. Mendel

Do you know that G. J. Mendel also wrote poetry? In the poem you will read in the 3rd episode of the podcast Mendel, The Man, you will find his life's credo that it is man's destiny to strive for high goals and to use all his abilities to achieve them. Enjoy the science by listening!

16 May

G. J. Mendel: inquisitive, talented and ambitious

Welcome to the second part of our series Mendel, the Man, presenting a personal portrait of the “father of genetics”. Enjoy the podcast with the title G. J. Mendel: inquisitive, talented and ambitious.

2 May

What kind of person was Gregor Johann Mendel?

Welcome to our series of articles Mendel, the Man. The Faculty of Science of Masaryk University wants to contribute to the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Gregor Johann Mendel, which we commemorate in 2022.

About the authors

Jiřina Relichová

Sources

On the centenary of G. Mendel’s lectures on the results of his pea experiments, a collection of previously discovered knowledge about his life and work was published: Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics. The collection was prepared by V. Orel. Blok Brno, 1965.
Much can be gleaned from Mendel’s correspondence, as translated by A. Matalová: Mendel’s birthplace. Mendel’s letters home. Moravian Museum Brno, 2008.

A treatise on the results of his pea experiments and some other documents are also valuable resources: Mendel, G. Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn 4, 1865, Abhandlungen 3-47, 1866 a překlad A. Matalové Nakl. K-public, published by Jiří Krejčí, Brno 2008.
One of the most important sources are the memoirs of Mendel’s nephew, Alois Schindler “Gedenkrede auf Prälat Gregor Joh. Mendel anlässlich der Gedenktafelenthüllung in Heinzendorf, Schlesien am 20. Juli 1902 (private print of the author)”, who knew his uncle well as he had lived with him in Brno since the 5th grade of primary school (i.e. since 1870). This is a celebratory speech given by A. Schindler for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the fire brigade in his native Hynčice.
J. Kříženecký’s remarks on these memories, in which he specified some data, are also very valuable: Gregor Johann Mendel 1822−1884. Texts and links to his work and life. Johann Ambrosius Barth Verlag Leipzig, 1965.
Later authors who wrote biographies of G. J. Mendel based them on these documents: H. Iltis (1924), J. Kříženecký (1965) and V. Orel (2003) and some others. Each of these authors summarised the hitherto known data and evidence about G. J. Mendel and his discovery, and enriched them with new findings and connections. Many new findings came after 1965, when genetics as a science could develop freely in our country. Since then, V. Orel and the Mendelian staff of the Moravian Museum have systematically cared for the legacy of the founder of genetics and published the results of research on Mendel’s life and work by Czech and foreign researchers in the specialised journal, Folia Mendeliana. This contribution draws mainly from the last comprehensive work, V. Orla’s monograph: Gregor Mendel and the beginnings of genetics, Academia Praha, 2003. In it, the author not only describes the circumstances of Gregor Johann Mendel’s life and work, but also illustrates the environment that paved the way for it. It also describes the events of that time and important scientific and political personalities that affected the development of natural sciences and Mendel’s discovery itself, with an overlap almost up to the end of the 20th century.