His experiments brought forth two generalizations which later became known as Mendel's Laws of Heredity. Ironically, when Mendel's paper was published on 1866, it had little impact. It was not until the early 20th century that the enormity of his ideas was realized.

It was not an accident that Mendel was able to explain the phenomenon of inheritance, a subject that had puzzled many previous researchers. His success was based on at least three factors.

1. In the available varieties, several characteristics had two contrasting forms, which were easily distinguishable from each other. This permitted an easy classification of F2 and FJ progeny from various crosses into clear cut classes.

2. The flower structure of pea ensures self pollination. Mendel experimentally verified this.

3. Pea flowers are relatively large. Therefore, emasculation and pollination of pea flowers is quite easy.

4. The duration of pea crop is of a single season. As a result, every year one generation of pea can be grown.

5. Pea seeds are large and present no problem in germination. Pea plants are relatively easy to grow and each plant occupies only a small space.

6. In addition to pea, Mendel worked on rajma (Phaseolus vulgaris 1.) as well. The results from the experiments on rajma were reported along with those on pea in the same paper.

Mendel's huge contributions to the world of science are in the form of three laws, which are widely called as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance.