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The question at hand is if Darwin and Medel would have collaborated together backing Darwin’s theory of descent with modification with Mendel’s inheritence of traits through generations, would the possibility of evolution have been as controversial as it was at the time?

Personally, I believe that not only would the close-minded, conservative christians of the time condemn Darwin to the underworld, but they would give Mendel the fist ticket down there as well.

Although Mendel’s collection of data would have given Darwin’s theories much evidence to support them, I still think that the timing of the discoveries of natural selection were unfortunate for the time period. The people were not willing to consider other ways of creation or formation and therefore probablly would have overlooked Darwin’s book with or without Mendel’s findings.

This is not to say, however, that Mendel’s observations of the inheritance of traits does not give significant evidence for proving Darwin’s ideas. If only these two great minds had been able to collaborate, the future for genetics might be notably further than where it is now. Although they might not have been able to convince the nation, they undoubtedly would have influenced other scientists to take action and uncover a world changing right before their eyes.

The fact that they didnt know each other: is unfortunate.
The fact that they even conducted their research and published their findings while society labeled them as abominations: is incredible and truely astonishing.

I believe that if Mendel and Darwin had met, they could have worked together to further each other’s theories. I doubt though, that more proof would have caused society to believe them.
As Kaitlin said, the people were close-minded. That seems to be the case almost anytime scientists discover something new. Galileo, Columbus, Darwin, and many others found something new and radical that people didn’t understand. Even with the evidence of genetics we have today, people still refuse to believe that there is evolution because they associate the word with the “humans coming from monkeys” idea.
I don’t think that the problem was or is a lack of evidence. Much of learning comes from exchanging ideas, but so many people refuse to listen to something that they don’t agree with. The problem is often society.

Both of these are great insights to what the relationship between these two guys could have been. Good thinking!

I believe that if these two men met, biology today would be a whole different spectrum. I mean, Darwin knew that the birds evolved slowly. Mendel knew that traits were passed on. I think that Darwin’s work would still be controversial, but not as much. This was a highly religious era. Scientifically speaking, it would have been more widely accepted over Lamarck’s theory, because they actually had proof. I think that it would have been a major pivotal point in the history in all of biology if these two men had met and shared their theories.

If Greg and Charlie met they would have a very long conversation. The two guys have theories that prove and define each other. I think that Darwin would probably do more of the talking since he obviously has a bunch more data and many other ideas/observations. Together they could have made a solid point and ultimately convince more people to consider the research. Darwin would show all his findings and proof of organisms changing, while Mendel would explain the theory or inheritance of traits from parents to offspring. And the ofcourse some wanabe would join in and try to prove something else. In conclusion, together they could have changed more minds. But i don’t think that it would change Biology in any major significant way. Mostly because, it is still impossible to convince everyone and it did not take people too terribly long to put the two ideas together anyway.

Maybe i’m being arrogant, but why would Mendel need a pea plant experiment to find out that traits are passed on from parent to offspring. Was he isolated from any human population. Just look at parents, and then their kids, there will be similarities. Hair, eye color, height, etc.

I don’t think that there would have been too much of an impact (perhaps a little) on the theories of Mendel and Darwin had they met. This is because the two theories seem to be related, however, independent to me. That’s just my opinion though. Maybe there’s some connection I’m not seeing. However, it could never hurt to exchange ideas. Only good come come from gaining more knowledge about and getting more insight into something.

If the two met and exchanged ideas, they would have a better understanding of DNA. I doubt they would discover the structure of DNA like Watson and Crick because they lacked the technology but perhaps the DNA structure would’ve been discovered earlier. If both of them presented their ideas together, there may have been less controversy. Usually when people hear a new theory by one person they immediately assume it’s nonsense but decades later when someone else presents the idea with more evidence they are more accepting. Two people are more persuasive presenting a radical idea than one person.

Well even if Darwin had all the genetic evedince he needed, he still would have been controversial, since the population he would be presenting this theory to would be Chritian, or even jewish or whatever else, would have belived in the creationism theory, and would have looked at him wierd.

if mendel and darwin met, our evolutionary bioilogy would been far discovered into details thasn what we have right now. also mendel would have been famous way earlier. if did meet darwin could hav prove his theory better too