His name is introduced to biology students, but often forgotten after the final exam. His pioneering discoveries went unnoticed by the world until years after his death. But now, in the era of genetic engineering and cloning debates, scientists are elevating Johann Gregor Mendel to his rightful place in history alongside better known, 19th century contemporaries such as Charles Darwin.

Experts and scientists have collected artwork and artifacts inside the partially restored Abbey of St. Thomas in Brno, a Czech city where Mendel lived, experimented with pea plants and published his historic findings in 1866, becoming the “father of genetics”.

The abbey, which dates from the 14th century, was seized from the Augustinian monks by communists in 1950 and returned to the religious order after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. A restoration project began in 1996. Yet much of the stone complex remains unused.

Mendel was born to a farming family in what's today the eastern Czech Republic. He became a priest in 1847 and later studied science at the University of Vienna. Fascinated by plant hybridization, he began experimenting in the abbey garden with pea plants.

During the 1850s Mendel carefully and systematically crossbred the plants until reaching conclusions that form the basis for the laws of heredity. He presented his landmark paper in 1865 and had it published the next year. But no one noticed.

According to scholars, Mendel's contemporaries failed to grasp the significance of his discoveries. But around 1900—long after his death in 1884—a British zoologist re-introduced the Czech scientist and his work, sparking an era of medical, agricultural and scientific progress that continues today.

Indeed, thanks to Mendel and his peas, modern man understands why children inherit their parents' traits, what roles are played by chromosomes and DNA in living things and how genetics can be used to improve human health. Around 1996, his findings led to the famous cloning of Dolly the sheep, as well as ethical debates over human cloning and farming with genetically modified crops.