What is Mendelian Genetics?
Mendelian genetics is a theory of genetic inheritance which was developed by Gregor Mendel in the 1800s. It is widely regarded as the cornerstone of classical genetics, and while Mendel didn’t get everything quite right, he got very close. Students in science classes are introduced to the concept of Mendelian genetics at a very early age, to prepare them for more complex discussions about genetics. At the time that Mendel was working, not very much was known about genetics. Mendel came up with an idea which was innovative for the time: creating a pure genetic line for research and recording his results meticulously. He chose peas for his experiments, since they grow quickly and are easy to hybridize, and along the way he made a number of notable discoveries, formulating two laws of genetics which weren’t very popular with the scientific community of the time. Mendel’s first law was the Law of Segregation, which dictated that each organism inherited half of its genetic material from one
