Johann Gregor MENDEL * 20. 7. 1822 Vražné-Hynčice + 6. 1. 1884 Brno
the world-recognized founder of genetics was christened in St. Peter and Paul’s Church in Vražné.
An abbot of the Augustinian cloister in Brno. Perhaps he did not even suspect how important his discoveries of the three transmission laws, which have become the fundamentals of genetics, were. The modest scientist, who was patiently cross-breeding a number of plant species, for the most part pea, in his garden in the old Brno cloister, had come to discoveries, from which he deduced the laws of transmission of characteristic features from parents to their descendants. However, he did not live to see the fruits of his meticulous labour recognized. The church tolerated his experiments, which did not always confirm the church dogmas. A breakthrough in the social understanding and the admission of the priority of his discoveries did not take place until after 1900. Nowadays the results of his experiments are applied not only in plant and animal improvement, but particularly in medicine as well as in other scientific disciplines. Genetics is even the foundation for the current scientific experiments of cell multiplication and cloning. A small museum in his native home in Hynčice is devoted to Mendel’s childhood and his fate. Annual festivals prove the respect, which local inhabitants have for the famous native. In Nový Jičín in Smetana’s Park there is a remarkable Mendel’s Memorial (by the sculptor Josef Obeth - 1931), which has outlasted the adversity of both totalitarian regimes.
