Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian friar whose genius for mathematics and botany founded the science of genetics. In the quiet garden of his monastery, he conducted thousands of experiments on pea plants. By tracking specific traits like color and height, he discovered that inheritance follows predictable laws. He identified 'dominant' and 'recessive' traits, realizing that offspring receive one 'factor' (now known as a gene) from each parent. His work provided the mathematical proof for how biological variation is passed down through generations. Though his discoveries were ignored for nearly 40 years, the 'Mendelian Laws of Inheritance' are now the starting point for all modern biology and medicine.