van Dijk, Peter and Ellis, T. H. Noel
(2023)
A previously unknown journey by Gregor Mendel to Leipzig in September 1865 and his likely participation in the Botanical Congress in Erfurt.
[Preprint]
Abstract
A hitherto unknown visit by Gregor Mendel to Leipzig, Germany, in September 1865 has been discovered in digitized German newspapers. This trip took place after his two lectures on his pea experiments but before the publication of his later famous article on plant hybrids. The probable purpose of this trip was to visit the Second Congress of German Horticulturists and Botanists and Gardening Enthusiasts, combined with the German Exhibition of Agricultural Products in nearby Erfurt. Crosses between plant species and varieties were among the main topics of the Congress. Mendel's participation cannot be proven beyond doubt, but other participants in the Congress arrived in Leipzig at the same time as Mendel and even stayed in the same hotel. In addition, the uniqueness of the Exhibition and the topics covered at the Congress make it very likely that this was the purpose of his trip. We propose that Mendel's participation in the Congress could explain the early publication of an abridged version of Mendel's article in Bamberg and that the Erfurter plant breeder and seed merchant Ernst Benary was acquainted with Mendel's pea experiments.
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