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plant breeder Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg (1871–1962) each
independently carried out experiments and reached conclusions
on inheritance similar to Mendel’s, effectively rediscovering
Mendel’s laws. They referenced Mendel’s paper “Experiments
on Plant Hybridization” in their own work, and this helped bring
Mendel’s overlooked research into prominence.
De Vries went even further, researching how genetic
variants come about. He coined the term pangene to name
heritable elements. De Vries believed species evolved from other
species because of sudden changes of character traits between
generations—which he called mutants, from the Latin word for
“change.” While working with plants called evening primroses,
he observed that his plants would sometimes have offspring
with significant and unique differences in leaf shape or plant
size not seen in the parent plants. These offspring would then
sometimes pass down these traits to the next generation. From
this, he developed his theory of mutation. Unlike Darwin, who
described the slow and gradual change of natural selection, de
Vries believed that evolution could make dramatic jumps because
of mutations, which resulted in a new species. Modern scientists
know that de Vries’s plants did not actually become a different
species. The mutations de Vries observed were caused by
spontaneous changes in genes.
As scientists throughout Europe and the United States were
trying to unravel questions of heredity, one English biologist,
William Bateson (1861–1926), was taking a broader look at the
future of the field, which he named genetics from the Greek
term genno, which means “to give birth.” He too recognized
the importance of Mendel’s work and thought it so important
that he translated Mendel’s papers from German into English so
that more scientists could read them. Bateson’s recognition of
Mendel’s ideas helped promote Mendel as the father of genetics.

Genetic Concepts Then and Now
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