The foundations of the modern science of genetics were laid by Gregor Mendel, an Austrian Monk, who carried out experiments on the inheritance of characters between generations. Mendel worked on inheritance in sweet-peas, and selected characters that bred true; that is, the characters did not blend into one another in the next generation. Characters chosen for study by Mendel included flower color (such as red versus white), plant height (tall versus dwarf), seed coat (smooth-coated seeds verses wrinkled seeds), pod length (long pods versus short pods), and so on. Mendel eventually formulated the three laws of genetics, known today as the Mendelian laws of inheritance. These are the law of segregation, the law of independent assortment, and the law of dominance. Mendel's work went unnoticed for nearly two decades after his death in 1887, but was eventually...