On July 22, 1822 Gregor Mendel (Johann Mendel) was born. His experiments conducted between 1956 to 1963 set the foundation to our modern understanding of genetics, defining the laws of heredity. His findings were not recognised by the scientific community until much later after his death in 1884. Today, the science of genetics helps us understand how traits are passed through generations. This has its benefits for understanding heritable diseases and with modern molecular biology, find cures. Equally as important is the search for better plant traits that make our crops grow bigger and better, are more resistant to disease and pathogens and adapt better to our changing climate.