Whose work established the law of heredity?

Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk, carried out careful breeding experiments with pea plants in the 1850s and 1860s. He showed that traits are inherited in predictable ratios, leading to the principles of segregation and independent assortment. Mendel’s paper was published in 1866 but was largely ignored until around 1900, when scientists recognized its importance. His work became the foundation of classical genetics.