Mendel's beehive in the grounds of the Abbey of Saint Thomas,Brno,Czech Republic. The Abbey's museum collection (the Mendelianum) commemorates Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884),genetic pioneer,Austrian botanist and former abbot of the Abbey. Mendel conducted his breeding experiments with pea plants here,discovering the statistical laws of heredity. From his results,he postulated the existence of a unit of heredity that is now called the gene. He also investigated weather patterns,and his interests included bee-keeping. A new exhibition,The Genius of Genetics,opened here in May 2002 |