History of Genetics

In a broad sense, knowledge of genetics (that offspring tend to resemble their parents but contain a mix a traits) has existed for millennia. Selection of new mutations and purposeful breeding of traits has led to a wide range of domestic breeds of animals (compare the Chihuahua and Great Dane dog breeds) and plants (just think of all the varieties of tomatoes or rice that exist).

There is even a strange mention of a breeding program in the Old Testament of the Bible, Genesis 30:31-43; however, it is doubtful that it would have worked as described.

A well defined and documented logical basis of patterns of heritability did not occur until Gregor Mendel published his plant breeding experiments. However, these were not widely understood and it wasn't until his work was "rediscovered" in the early 1900s that the field of genetics took off.