News | Thursday, 7 July 2022
Leopoldina celebratory symposium on the 200th birthday of Gregor Mendel
Image: William Bateson via Wikimedia Commons
The Mendelian rules of inheritance, named after the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel, are the foundation of modern genetics. His experiments with crossing peas in the Brno monastery garden have been the subject of many schoolbooks and teaching materials. Wednesday, 20 July 2022, marks the 200th anniversary of Gregor Mendel’s birth, prompting the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina to host a celebratory symposium in honour of the great scientist. In addition, laureates of the Mendel Medal donated by the Leopoldina will look back at their own research paths.
The Mendel Medal was instituted in 1965 in honour of Gregor Mendel (1822–1884). It is awarded for pioneering achievements in the fields of general and molecular biology or genetics. Speakers at the celebratory symposium include the British evolutionary biologist and geneticist Nicholas Barton, who received the Mendel Medal in 2013, and members of the Leopoldina Magdalena Götz, developmental biologist and stem cell researcher, who was awarded the Mendel Medal in 2019, the biophysicist and optogenetics expert Peter Hegemann, a laureate of 2017, and the human geneticist Stefan Mundlos, who received the Medal in 2021. There will also be a contribution from Jane Goodall in the form of a pre-recorded presentation. She was awarded the Mendel Medal in 1987 and has been a member of the Leopoldina since 1990.
