We often credit the discovery of genetics and inheritance to Charles Darwin, however a less well-known individual in history deserves just as much attention. 

At the beginning of the 19th century in the Austrian empire, a provincial monk called Gregor Mendel noticed some interesting traits of inheritance while potting pea plants. The retiring monk then spent an entire decade experimenting on almost 30,000 pea plants. Although he never used the word ‘gene’ in his paper (the word only appeared in a medical dictionary starting 1913), he clearly knew what he was doing.

While Darwin was sailing around the word collecting flora and fauna, Mendel stayed in the monastery’s kitchen garden reproducing pea plants. While Darwin took the world by surprise with On The Origin Of Species, Mendel’s report remained widely ignored and spent the rest of his life growing what might have possibly be the most advanced plant in the world for his time.

Darwin understood that every living thing was connected, Mendel held the key to comprehend how and why. About one thousand kilometres apart, unfortunately the two never met.

It is only much later when the world was ready for it that Mendel’s work gained some recognition. This project is a modest tribute to Mendel.