Final answer:
Gregor Mendel is the father of genetics and made significant contributions through his work with pea plants. He formulated the laws of inheritance and discovered dominant and recessive trait patterns, but did not discover DNA nor conduct experiments on humans.
Step-by-step explanation:
Johann Gregor Mendel made essential contributions to our understanding of genetics. Some statements that describe Mendel and his work include:
- Studied pea plants: Mendel chose the garden pea as his model system because of its easily identifiable traits.
- Formulated the laws of inheritance: Through his work, Mendel discovered how traits are inherited in a discrete and predictable fashion, giving insight into dominant and recessive patterns.
It is not accurate to say that he discovered DNA or that he conducted experiments on humans. Mendel, often referred to as the "father of genetics," laid the groundwork for classical, or Mendelian, genetics through his experiments with nearly 30,000 pea plants, presenting his findings in 1865 and publishing them in 1866.