Teacher

Albeit appreciating the benefits of the monastery, Mendel was unhappy with his assigned clerical duties in caring for the sick as it took away from his time to study natural science and even made him ill. Aware that Mendel was not fit for work as a parish priest, Abbot F.C. Napp appointed Mendel in 1849 to teach mathematics in the mediaeval town of Znojmo. He was a good, patient, and just teacher and loved by his students. Still, although he tried twice throughout his teaching career, he was unable to pass the state examinations to obtain his teaching license. Luckily, this failure meant that science gained one of its greatest.     

Photo:  Members of the Augustianian monastery in Brno. Mendel, in the back row standing second from the right, studies a fuchsia bloom.

Photo credit: Mendel Museum of Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic