The emergence of genetics as a field of scientific inquiry began in the mid-19th century when Gregor Mendel, a monk in what is now the Czech Republic, used experiments with pea plants to identify the principles of heredity. Mendel’s work was largely ignored until 1900 when Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns independently rediscovered his work. From then on the field of genetics has grown rapidly, with advances in the understanding of the structure of genetic material and its role in heredity and development. In the last century, geneticists have identified the basic principles of inheritance, discovered the underlying molecular mechanisms of genetic information storage and transfer, and used genetic techniques to identify and study the genetic basis of many diseases. Today, genetics is a major field of scientific research and has important implications for medicine and the understanding of biological processes.
genitics