Who coined the term 'gene'?

Wilhelm Johannsen coined the term “gene” in 1909. The Danish botanist introduced it in his book Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre, replacing the older term “pangene,” which was associated with Charles Darwin’s theory of pangenesis.

Johannsen chose “gene” from the Greek root gonos, meaning offspring or procreation. He wanted a neutral word for the inherited factors that influence traits, without claiming what those factors physically were. At the time, scientists had not yet established that genes were sections of DNA.

Gregor Mendel had discovered predictable hereditary factors decades earlier through pea-plant experiments, but he never used the word gene. William Bateson coined “genetics” in 1906, while Johannsen later also introduced the related terms “genotype” and “phenotype.”

A common mix-up is crediting Mendel with the word itself. Mendel founded the experimental study of heredity; Johannsen supplied much of the terminology that modern genetics still uses.