Falvey Memorial Library presents “Mendel in Falvey: A Display of Materials from Special Collections” on view from June 2nd to October 24th, 2008, on the second floor of the library.

This display illustrates the life and work of Gregor Johann Mendel, O.S.A. On display are books that laid the groundwork for Mendel’s theories and contemporary books about the friar and his influence. The display focuses especially on the rediscovery of Mendel’s paper, Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden (Experiments in Plant Hybridization) published in the 1866 Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brünn. This historic document was presented to Falvey Memorial Library by the Augustinians of the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova in 1999. It is the cornerstone of the Mendeliana Collection and as such has been digitized for inclusion in the Villanova Digital Library.

In addition to the display on second floor, there are two cases on the first floor of the library illustrating the history of the Mendel Medal. The material in these cases is exhibited courtesy of the Villanova University Archives and includes a copy of the Mendel Medal which is awarded annually to outstanding scientists.




 

Mendel, Gregor Johann. Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Vorgelegt in den Sitzungen vom 8. Februar und 8. März 1865. Verhandlungen des naturforschenen Vereines in Brünn, Band IV, Heft 1 (1865): 3-47. Brünn, Verlag des Vereines, 1866.

Gregor Mendel’s experiments with hybridization of pea plants were conducted in the garden at the Augustinian Monastery in Brünn. He reported on these experiments in two lectures which were read before the Natural Sciences Society of Brünn on February 8th and March 8th, 1865.