Was Gregor Mendel ever criticized or ridiculed for any reason regarding his theories?

Mendel's Theories

No. Mendel's observations and resulting theories are still accepted as the basis for all heredity and are a major part of biological curriculum from middle school through college level bio courses. His work was scrutinized somewhat by an english biologist named Punnett and his ideas supported Mendel's. One thing to keep in mind though is Mendel was dealing only with dominant and recessive trait's, meaning the physical characteristic is displayed, or it's not. For example, plants that are either tall or they are short. Most phenotypes (displayed traits) in humans are not dominamt or recessive, rather they are blends of parental trait. An example of a dominant/recessive trait in humans is the ability to curl one's tounge. Mendel's work was revolutionary and is still the foundation of our understanding of heredity.

Additional Information

Actually, the scientific rigor of Mendel's methodology has come into some question. According to Wikipedia, "His (Mendel's) experimental results have later been the object of considerable dispute. The renowned statistician R. A. Fisher analyzed the results of the F1 (first filial) ratio and found them to be implausibly close to the exact ratio of 3 to 1. Only a few would accuse Mendel of scientific malpractice or call it a scientific fraud — reproduction of his experiments has demonstrated the accuracy of his hypothesis — however, the results have continued to be a mystery for many, though it is often cited as an example of confirmation bias, and he is generally suspected of having "smoothed" his data to some degree (not knowing about the importance of blind classification). The fact that his reported results concentrate on the few traits in peas, which are determined by a single gene, has also suggested that he may have censored his results, otherwise he would have stumbled across genetic linkage."

First answer by Mr.ScienceTeacher. Last edit by Crystal. Contributor trust: 1554 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 25 [recommend question]