Heredity Before Mendel Festetics and the Question of Sheep's Wool in Central Europe

"The history of science is replete with untold stories and this book is one of these accounts. The author shares a narrative of heredity, an active topic of inquiry long before Johann Gregor Mendel - the father of genetics - planted his peas. One such interlude unfolded in Mendel's home city Brno and involved the sheep breeder, Imre Festetics from Kîoszeg, Hungary. He sought to improve wool and proposed important rules of heredity. Unfortunately, aspects of wool quality, now known to be polygenic, complicate interpretations of the work of Festetics and explain why it is neglected. The forebearers of Mendel never get the credit they deserve. Heredity Before Mendel resurrects Festetics, the grandfather of heredity"--