Controversies in the Interpretation of Mendel’s Discovery

Orel, V.; Hartl, Daniel L.

doi:10.2307/j.ctv10tq47g.9

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…From the results of these experiments and his interpretations of them, he developed a theory to describe the fundamental mechanisms of heredity. He is recognized for his creative genius as being the first scientist to bring together three different disciplines in biological experimentation: mathematics, the fertilization of gametes and probability theory, to investigate heredity (Orel and Hartl 1994). For his theory, which became the foundation of hereditary principles, Mendel is commonly referred to as the founder of genetics.…”

Section: Student Reading‐ Correlation Of Gregor Mendel's Discoveries mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mendel presented abundant experimental evidence and offered a well‐supported theoretical framework to explain the patterns of inheritance that he observed in a detailed and unambiguous way. Mendel did not title his laws as “segregation” and “independent assortment” as textbooks typically describe them; instead various biologists attributed them to him (Fairbanks and Rytting 2001; Orel and Hartl 1994). For example, de Vries (1900a, 1900b) titled his rediscovery papers, published separately in German and French, “The law of segregation of hybrids” ( Das Spaltungsgesetz der Bastarde, and Sur la loi de disjonction des hybrides ).…”

Section: Student Reading‐ Correlation Of Gregor Mendel's Discoveries mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gregor Mendel's classic paper and the nature of science in genetics courses

Westerlund

Fairbanks

2010

Hereditas

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The discoveries of Gregor Mendel, as described by Mendel in his 1866 paper Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden (Experiments on plant hybrids), can be used in undergraduate genetics and biology courses to engage students about specific nature of science characteristics and their relationship to four of his major contributions to genetics. The use of primary source literature as an instructional tool to enhance genetics students' understanding of the nature of science helps students more clearly understand how scientists work and how the science of genetics has evolved as a discipline. We offer a historical background of how the nature of science developed as a concept and show how Mendel's investigations of heredity can enrich biology and genetics courses by exemplifying the nature of science.

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Section: Student Reading‐ Correlation Of Gregor Mendel's Discoveries mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Student Reading‐ Correlation Of Gregor Mendel's Discoveries mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gregor Mendel's classic paper and the nature of science in genetics courses

Westerlund

Fairbanks

2010

Hereditas

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“…Scientific breeding during the early nineteenth century created a background to his research (W ood and O rel 2001, 2005). Arising from his initial theoretical framework, Mendel proved, in his sequence of hypotheses and experiments, that material units govern the transfer of parental traits to offspring through the germ and pollen cells (Hartl and Orel 1992; O rel and H artl 1994; O rel and C zihak 2001).…”

Section: Mendel Remembered In Brno In the 1960smentioning

confidence: 99%

Contested memory: debates over the nature of Mendel's paradigm

Orel

2006

Hereditas

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“…. in Brno and handed over the manuscript for publication without alteration" (Orel and Hartl 1994). On the face of it, this is questionable: as an industrious scientist, Mendel was unlikely to spend a whole year waiting for the publication of his work without any attempt to modify the manuscript.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, alterations in his publication were noticed by his advocates, including Fisher (1936). To some extent, such alterations made by Mendel himself may be responsible for some long-term controversies regarding the interpretation of his discovery (Orel and Hartl 1994), even leading to the statement "whether he truly made the first move in revealing the underlying mechanism of heredity is still a matter of debate" (Orel and Wood 2000). This reflects the fact that the traditional analysis of Mendel's work, hence the origin of genetics, was based on Mendel's published article, while little attention was paid to his lectures (Bateson 1909;Stern and Sherwood 1966;Abbott and Fairbanks 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Mendelism: New Insights from Gregor Mendel’s Lectures in Brno

Zhang

Chen²,

Sun³

2017

Genetics

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Interpretation of Gregor Mendel's work has previously been based on study of his published paper "Experiments in Plant Hybridization." In contrast, the lectures that he gave preceding publication of this work have been largely neglected for more than 150 years. Here, we report on and interpret the content of Mendel's previous two lectures, as they were reported in a local newspaper. We comprehensively reference both the text of his paper and the historical background of his experiments. Our analysis shows that while Mendel had inherited the traditional research program on interspecific hybridization in plants, he introduced the novel method of ratio analysis for representing the variation of unit-characters among offspring of hybrids. His aim was to characterize and explain the developmental features of the distributional pattern of unit-characters in two series of hybrid experiments, using self-crosses and backcrosses with parents. In doing so, he not only answered the question of what the unit-characters were and the nature of their hierarchical classification, but also successfully inferred the numerical principle of unit-character transmission from generation to generation. He also established the nature of the composition and behaviors of reproductive cells from one generation to the next. Here we highlight the evidence from Mendel's lectures, clearly announcing that he had discovered the general law of cross-generation transmission of unit-characters through reproductive cells containing unit-factors. The recovered content of these previous lectures more accurately describes the work he performed with his garden peas than his published paper and shows how he first presented it in Brno. It is thus an invaluable resource for understanding the origin of the science of genetics.

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Controversies in the Interpretation of Mendel’s Discovery

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Gregor Mendel's classic paper and the nature of science in genetics courses

Gregor Mendel's classic paper and the nature of science in genetics courses

Contested memory: debates over the nature of Mendel's paradigm

Mendelism: New Insights from Gregor Mendel’s Lectures in Brno

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