The Monk in the lost Garden the Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the father of Genetics by Robin Marantz Henig

Written by Robin Marantz Henig, “The Monk in the lost Garden the Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the father of Genetics” is about the work of the renowned work of Mendel; a scientist who had changed the face of science. Born into the deep Austrian Empire, Mendel came from a modest family of Anton and Rosine Mendel. During his early age, Mendel worked in a farm and was devoted into studies. After the age of maturity, Mendel attended The Philosophical Institute of Olomouc where he met one of his greatest teachers who helped him throughout his entire journey of seeking knowledge. One of his eminent teachers, Friedrich Franz, recommended him to the Augustinian Abbey of St Thomas in Brno in 1843. This monastery will change his entire life because it is here where he will revolutionize the scientific field. Mendel underwent many changes. One of these changes was to baptize his name; Johann became Gregor. He was then sent to the University of Vienna where his physics teacher was Doppler. He then returned to the monastery as a school teacher. From early age, Mendel was not suited for priest work. He was once asked to do the priest work; he could not do it. It was funny that Mendel, the father of Genetics failed twice his oral exam and had a mediocre grade. Further, Mendel’s work was not widespread during his century. This is why little is known about his bibliography. Nevertheless, Mendel had known many failures. He was once asked in a test to classify the mammals. Here was what he said:
Regarding hoofed ungulates,
The horse
The ass
The ox
The sheep
The goat
The chamois, the deer, and the stag;
What’s a genius who could not even refer to the species by their nomenclature name (Latin?) From the early ages, Mendel did not have any success. Mendel had great reverence for Galileo, Darwin, and Linnaeus. Linnaeus classified all species with their Latin names. Mendel was facing both financial and mental crisis. His parents were poor and therefore could not bear him adventuring into long years of studies. He was helped by his sister who gave him money in order to survive once at the university. Most of his family members wanted him to do farm work. He was mentally in crisis because he could barely pass his exams. So, the reader learn Mendel story that a scientist does not have to be a perfect person. All that Mendel had as a resource was determination.
From the beginning of the book to the last word of his book, Robin Marantz Henig discusses the scientific side of Mendel’s discovery as well as discoveries done by other naturalists. The Author mentioned Copernicus and Galileo who had different faiths for their “new” ideas about the universe. These two early naturalists made great progress regarding physics. Perhaps of the greatest person mentioned in this book is Carolus Linnaeus. Linnanaeus is the one that made it easier for Mendel to make his discovery. The Earlier classified all species into kingdoms, classes, orders and so on. He further established a system later known as the Linnaean system when referring to a scientific name of a species. Like Linnaeus, Mendel had known success. But prior to their successes they have both known failure. So, this teaches the reader that research is about eliminating the unlikely possibilities. Mendel discovered heredity laws and therefore became the father of genetics. Mendel cultivated and tested some 29,000 pea plants (i.e., Pisum sativum). He therefore developed Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment. To summarize his work here is what Mendel discovered:
(Please go this website for the picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mendelian_inheritance.svg)




In this picture the red is the dominant trait and the white is the recessive trait. So, according to Mendel, the likelihood of parents to have offsprings of dominant traits is greater than the one with recessive traits.
Mendel’s work allowed scientist to breed different species and segregate some traits. So, if a person wants to have offspring particular traits, the person can succeed due to Mendel’s work. Also, this is the basic fundamental of modern science.