How Gregor Mendel Came upon Pea

choi

Jennifer Senior, In Molecular Pursuit of the Genetic Code. New York Times, May 9, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/0 ... it-of-the-self.html
(book review on Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene; An intimate history. Scribner, 2016)

the first 2 1/2 paragraphs:

"Thank heavens Gregor Mendel was a lousy priest. Had he shown even the faintest aptitude for oratory or ministering to the poor, he might never have determined the basic laws of heredity. But bumbling he was, and he made a rotten university student to boot; his failures drove him straight to his room, where he bred mice in secret. The experiment scandalized his superiors.

" 'A monk coaxing mice to mate to understand heredity was a little too risqué, even for the Augustinians,' writes Siddhartha Mukherjee in 'The Gene; An intimate history.' So Mendel switched — auspiciously, historically — to pea plants. The abbot in charge, writes the author, acquiesced this time, 'giving peas a chance.'

"Love Dr Mukherjee, love his puns [peas/peace].

My comment: There is no need to read the rest.