Who discovered that individual traits are passed on from one generation to the next?

• A. Gregor Mendel in 1865
• B. Charles Darwin in 1859
• C. Alfred Hershey in 1952
• D. James Watson in 1953

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how traits are transmitted from one generation to the next through discrete heritable units. Gregor Mendel showed this by studying pea plants, crossing varieties with contrasting traits and carefully tracking how those traits appeared in subsequent generations. He found that traits are inherited as separate units, which can segregate and recombine in predictable patterns, rather than blending together. This work demonstrated that individual traits pass from parents to offspring, forming the foundation of genetics. Mendel conducted these pioneering experiments around 1865, establishing the method and concept that traits are inherited in discrete units later called genes.

Darwin proposed how evolution occurs through natural selection but did not describe the inheritance mechanism. Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase showed that DNA is the genetic material, clarifying what carries information, and James Watson (along with Crick) helped reveal the DNA double-helix structure; however, their work explains the nature of genetic material or its structure, not the basic pattern by which individual traits are passed from one generation to the next.