Process Paper

Gregor Mendel: First Explorations of Genetics

Kate Mandler
Junior Division
Individual Website
Word Count: 472

For my History Day project, I chose to learn about Gregor Mendel. Originally, I had
been interested in Alan Turing for his beginning exploration in the field of computer science,
but I wanted to choose someone who wasnt as widely known for his accomplishments, like
Alan Turing is. I looked up various branches of science and decided to pick the area that
fascinated me - genetics. There have been a lot of new discoveries and tremendous changes
in this field in the past decade alone. I wanted to see where it began. I read about it and
Gregor Mendel proved to be the right person to study.
I began learning about the science of genetics by learning about Mendels pea
experiments. I learned the science behind his discoveries through several YouTube videos.
After I understood genetics better, I checked out books from the library about Mendel. The
one that was most helpful to me was Gregor Mendel: Genetics Pioneer by Della A. Yannuzzi.
This book gave me a very clear overview of his work and explained it in a way that I found
easily understandable.
While I found many videos helpful to me, the two that I kept returning to for
information were a video on Teachers Pet called Gregor Mendel that explained his
discoveries in understandable terms. Also, a Ted Talk called How Mendels pea plants
helped us understand genetics by Hortensia Jimenez Diaz. This video showed through
graphics what the probability of the offsprings phenotype would be. Both videos were highly
useful sources for my project.
While creating my project, I didnt really encounter any issues that slowed down the
process. I had a successful time researching, writing, and creating my bibliography. The only
problem I may have struggled with was time management. Although I spent a good amount
of time putting my project together, I didnt begin researching as early as I should have.

I believe that my History Day project meets the criteria of the theme extremely well.
Part of the reason I chose the topic of Gregor Mendel was for its excellent relation to this
years theme. Through his several experiments, Gregor Mendel explored genetics and came
up with laws as to how heredity truly works. He exchanged genes between plants, and
discovered the science behind inheritance. By doing so, he laid out the basis for modern
genetics and the ways of inheritance. Without Mendels tremendous work and discoveries in
this field, modern day geneticists may not have been able to make the revelations they have.
Scientists today have built on his work by mapping the genes in our bodies, leading them to
unlocking clues to diseases and their cures. Genetics is a field that continues to make
significant progress toward understanding who we are. Mendels initial methodical
encounters with pea plants laid the foundation for it.

Annotated Bibliography
Primary Sources
Websites
"Mendel's Paper in English." Mendel's Paper (English. Roger B. Blumberg, n.d. Web. 22
Feb. 2016.
This website published Mendels paper that he wrote after finishing his
pea experiments. In the paper, Mendel described his results and theories. The way he
wrote his paper was very complex, and few people from his time understood it.

Secondary Sources
Websites
Asiedu, Dita. "Radio Prague - The Mendel Museum in Brno." Radio Prague - The
Mendel Museum in Brno. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.radio.cz/en/section/spotlight/the-mendel-museum-in-brno>.
This was a very interesting site where I could get a lot of first hand
information on Mendel. It showed what his general life was like and how he lived.
It also showed me his importance as it is posted from the Mendel Museum during
todays time.

"Concept 1Children Resemble Their Parents." Mendel as the Father of Genetics. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
This website summarized Mendels three laws in simple terms. It helped
me better understand the meaning of his laws.

"Explanation of Mendel's Three Laws through the Discussion of Meiosis." Seattlepi.

N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2016.
This was a very useful website when I needed to know about the three
laws of inheritance that Mendel made when he conducted his pea experiments. It
explained them through the idea of Meiosis.

"Gregor Mendel Biography." Bio.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2016.

This website gave me a general overview as to how Gregor Mendel lived,
and proved to be a sufficient source.
"Gregor Mendel: The Father of Modern Genetics." Deciphering the Genetic Code. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2016.
This website explained why Mendel is considered the father of modern
genetics, and the significance of his discoveries.
"Gregor Mendel: The Father of Modern Genetics." Famous Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 9
Feb. 2016.
This website showed a clear summary of Mendels education and what he
accomplished in his lifetime.

"Gregor Mendel and the Principles of Inheritance." Nature.com. Nature Publishing

Group, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
I used this website to learn more about my topic. It gave me a general
overview of his work.

O'Neil, Dennis. "Basic Principles of Genetics: Mendel's Genetics." Basic Principles of

Genetics: Mendel's Genetics. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
This website taught me more about how Mendel cross-pollinated his pea
plants, and what cross-pollinating meant.

Books
Bardoe, Cheryl, and Joseph A. Smith. Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas. New
York: Abrams for Young Readers, 2006. Print.
This was a good basic book that helped me get an overview of my subject.
Corcos, Alain F., and Floyd V. Monaghan. Gregor Mendel's Experiments on Plant
Hybrids: A Guided Study. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1993. Print.
This book helped explain Mendels pea plant experiments with good
graphs and explanations.
Edelson, Edward. Gregor Mendel, and the Roots of Genetics. New York: Oxford UP,
1999. Print.
This book gave me some good history of the science and studies leading
up to Mendels experiments.

Henig, Robin Marantz. The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor
Mendel, the Father of Genetics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.
This was a good book to reference small things. When I needed to
understand a small thing that Mendel did or explored, like the idea of alleles for
example, I would look at the index of this book and find what I was looking

Mawer, Simon. Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics. New York: Abrams, in
Association with the Field Museum, Chicago, 2006. Print.
I thought that this book was a good one to reference when I needed to
learn more of his education and what brought Mendel to his experiments. I read of
his schooling, and how he got to become an Augustinian Monk.
Yannuzzi, Della A. Gregor Mendel: Genetics Pioneer. New York: Franklin Watts, 2004.
Print.
This book clearly explained Mendels life and work in understandable
terms. It helped me better understand his experiments with peas.

Videos
"Gregor Mendel." YouTube. YouTube, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.
This video really explained Mendels work with pea plants and
gave a picture of the different generations of the pea plants and the possible allele
combinations. Phenotype, Genotype, and alleles were also explained in this video.

"Gregor Mendel: Great Minds." YouTube. YouTube, 17 June 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.
This video briefly talked of Mendels childhood and education, and went
deeper into understanding his experiments and what his discoveries meant.
Watching this helped me better understand what he had done with his peas, and
the dominant gene vs. the recessive gene.

"Gregor Mendel - Mini Biography." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.
This video that I watched explained the importance of Mendels work. The
video included interviews with people that talked about the significance of his
experiments.
"How Mendel's Pea Plants Helped Us Understand Genetics Hortensia, Jim." YouTube.
YouTube, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.
This source was a video I watched on YouTube. Its helpful graphics
explained the possibilities of what an offsprings phenotype could be. I watched it
to further understand the science behind Mendels discoveries through his
experiments.

Image Sources

Primary
Andreas Von Ettingshausen. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_von_Ettingshausen>.
This is a picture of one of Mendels professors who had an influence on
Gregor Mendel.
Carl Friedrich Von Gaertner. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.macroevolution.net/images/xcarl-friedrich-vongaertner.jpg.pagespeed.ic.LoFaPD_gB8.jpg>.
This is a picture of a scientist before Mendels time who did his own work
with plant hybridization.
Franz Joseph Andreas Nicolaus Unger. N.d. Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber. Web. 20
Feb. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Unger>.
This is a picture of Franz Unger who was one of Mendels prefessors. He
wanted his students to experiment with plant hybridization.

Gregor Mendel Monk. 1901. Mendel's Principles of Heredity: A Defence.

Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Gregor_Mendel_oval.jpg.
Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
This is a picture I used of Gregor Mendel.
Gregor Mendel. N.d.
Http://a4.files.biography.com/image/upload/c_fit,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,h_1200,q_80,w
_1200/MTIwNjA4NjMzNTA5MDg2NzMy.jpg. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.biography.com/people/gregor-mendel-39282>.
This is another picture I used of Gregor Mendel.
Josef Gottlieb Koelreuter. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Josef_Gottlieb_K
oelreuter.jpg/220px-Josef_Gottlieb_Koelreuter.jpg>.

This is a picture of a scientist before Mendels time who proved that plants
can self-pollinate.

The Mendel Notizblatt. 1875. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.mendelweb.org/MWhartl.html>.
This is a picture of Mendels notes. I put it in my website because it is
something that Mendel wrote from that time.
Mendel Publication. N.d. The Mendel Museum in Brno. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.radio.cz/en/section/spotlight/the-mendel-museum-in-brno>.
This is a picture of a book Mendel published.
Mendel with Other Monks. N.d. Wellcome Trust, London. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/ed/04/af3b0d235428bc6daf12
639b53c5.jpg>.
I used this picture of Mendel with his fellow monks to represent his life at
the Abbey.

Secondary Sources

Dominant Recessive Chart. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

<http://blog.canacad.ac.jp/wpmu/18wilsan/files/2014/02/image18.png>.
This picture shows the different seed types that Mendel tested.
Genotypes of Pea Plants. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/images/genotypes_of_pea_plants.gif>.
This is a chart that shows the possibilities of allele combinations of

offspring.
The Mendel Family Home. 1995. Margaret Hermnek Peaslee, University of Pittsburgh at
Titusville. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. <http://www.mendelweb.org/MWpeaslee.html>.
This is a picture I used of Mendels childhood farm.
Mendel's Garden and the Remaining Foundation of His Greenhouse. 2006. David B.
Fankhauser, Ph.D. U.C. Clermont College, Batavia, Ohio. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/travel/berlin/for_web/mendel_in_brno.html
This is a picture of what the Abbey Mendel lived in looks like now.
Modern Genetic Research. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.stir.ac.uk/media/autoimport/img/photographs/courses/undergraduate/sportsE
xSci.jpg>.
This is a picture of a modern scientist to represent the changes that have
been made in the field of genetics.

Peaslee, Margaret Hermanek. "In the Footsteps of Mendel." Peaslee at MendelWeb.

University of Pittsburgh at Titusville, 1997. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.mendelweb.org/MWpeaslee.html>.
I used this picture in my website because I felt like it would fit well with
my topic.
Punnett Square of Mendel's Pea Experiments. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BwlbMaa50jo/S9nhifWQFAI/AAAAAAAAGTE/vp
Kxq2OHtFk/s1600/punnett+square+green+peas.jpg>.
This is a Punnett Square that demonstrates possible combinations of
alleles.
Same Ratio in Later Generations. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/images/same_ratio_in_later_generations.gif>.
This is a chart that shows phenotype possibilities in the offspring, or

different generations.

Statue of Mendel. N.d. Mendellanum Moravian Museum, Brno. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<https://www.dnalc.org/content/c16/16183/16183_mendelstatue.jpg>.
This is a picture of a statue that was made of Mendel.

Study Unravels Genetic Jigsaw. N.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/03/28/3725118.htm>.
This is a picture represents modern-day science to show the changes made
in genetics since Mendels time.

This Is What Inspires Girls in STEM. N.d. Huffington Post. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/10/what-inspires-girls-inst_n_4081256.html>.
This is a picture of a modern-day scientist to represent the changes that
have been made in the field of genetics.