Which scientist is known as the father of genetics for pea-plant experiments?

Gregor Mendel is known as the father of genetics for his pea-plant experiments.

Between 1856 and 1863, Mendel cultivated and studied thousands of pea plants in the monastery garden at Brno. He tracked contrasting traits, including seed shape, seed color, flower color, and plant height. By counting the traits in successive generations, he identified consistent patterns of inheritance.

Mendel proposed that paired hereditary factors separate when reproductive cells form and reunite at fertilisation. These ideas became associated with the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment. The factors are now understood as versions of genes, called alleles.

Mendel’s 1866 paper was initially overlooked by much of the scientific community. His work was rediscovered around 1900, when researchers recognized its importance for explaining heredity. The term genetics was later introduced by William Bateson, who strongly promoted Mendel’s principles.