The life and personality of Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), the founder of 
scientific genetics, are reviewed against the contemporary background of his 
times. At the end are weighed the benefits for Mendel (as charged by Sir Ronald 
Fisher) to have documented his results on hand of falsified data. Mendel was 
born into a humble farm family in the "Kuhländchen", then a predominantly German 
area of Northern Moravia. On the basis of great gifts Mendel was able to begin 
higher studies; however, he found himself in serious financial difficulties 
because of his father's accident and incapacitation. His hardships engendered 
illness which threatened continuation and completion of his studies until he was 
afforded the chance of absolving successfully theological studies as an 
Augustinian monk in the famous chapter of St. Thomas in Altbrünn (Staré Brno). 
Psychosomatic indisposition made Mendel unfit for practical pastoral duties. 
Thus, he was directed to teach but without appropriate state certification; an 
attempt to pass such an examination failed. At that point he was sent to the 
University of Vienna for a 2-year course of studies, with emphasis on physics 
and botany, to prepare him for the exam. His scientific and methodologic 
training enabled him to plan studies of the laws of inheritance, which had begun 
to interest him already during his theology training, and to choose the 
appropriate experimental plant. In 1865, after 12 years of systematic 
investigations on peas, he presented his results in the famous paper "Versuche 
über Pflanzenhybriden." Three years after his return from Vienna he failed to 
attain his teaching certification a second time. Only by virtue of his 
exceptional qualifications did he continue to function as a Supplementary 
Professor of Physics and Natural History in the two lowest classes of a 
secondary school. In 1868 he was elected Abbot of his chapter, and freed from 
teaching duties, was able to pursue his many scientific interests with greater 
efficiency. This included meteorology, the measurement of ground water levels, 
further hybridization in plants (a.o. involving the hawk week Hieracium up to 
about 1873), vegetable and fruit tree horticulture, apiculture, and agriculture 
in general. This involved Mendel's active participation in many organizations 
interested in advancing these fields at a time when appropriate research 
institutes did not exist in Brünn. Some of the positions he took in his capacity 
of Abbot had severe repercussions and further taxed Mendel's already 
over-stressed system. The worst of these was a 10-year confrontation with the 
government about the taxation of the monastery.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)