Gregor Mendel studied the inheritance of physical traits in pea plants in the 19th century. He found that traits are controlled by discrete factors, now known as genes, that are passed from parents to offspring. These genes exist in different forms called alleles, and some alleles are dominant while others are recessive. In his experiments, Mendel found that when he cross-pollinated pea plants with different traits, only one trait, the dominant one, appeared in the first generation of offspring. However, when he had that first generation self-pollinate, on average three-quarters displayed the dominant trait while one-quarter displayed the recessive trait. Mendel's work established the foundations of genetics.