The appreciation of Gregor Mendel's discovery in 1865 of what we now know as "genes," occurred long
after his death in 1884. The difficulties during his life that may have contributed to this have been much
discussed. I here propose that Mendel was imprisoned by order of the young Austrian Emperor FranzJoseph after a public reading of a petition seeking that monks be given the same civic rights as normal
citizens. Including Mendel, this was signed by six monks of the Saint Thomas monastery of Brünn and
was formally presented to the Kremsier Austrian Constitutional Parliament in January 1849. The impact
of its adverse reception long influenced Mendel's life.
