Gregor Mendel is an Austrian monk who conducted experiments with pea plants and discovered the principles of inheritance. He is often referred to as the "father of modern genetics." Mendel's experiments involved cross-breeding pea plants with different characteristics, such as flower color and seed shape, and meticulously observing the patterns of inheritance of these traits across multiple generations. Through his experiments, Mendel discovered the fundamental principles of inheritance, including the concepts of dominant and recessive traits, as well as the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment. His findings laid the foundation for the field of genetics and revolutionized our understanding of how traits are passed from one generation to the next.