Gregor Mendel studied inheritance patterns of traits in pea plants in the 1800s. He found that traits like seed shape, color, and flower position were controlled by discrete factors (now called genes) that are passed from parents to offspring without blending. Some forms of these genes are dominant and mask the appearance of recessive genes in the first hybrid generation, but the recessive genes still exist and can be expressed in later generations. Mendel's discoveries established the foundations of classical genetics and heredity.