The almost simultaneous discovery of the forgotten work of Gregor Mendel by three botanists, working independently, has always called for an explanation. The first one to announce the discovery was Hugo de Vries (1848Vries ( -1935)), who cited it in a paper that was received for publication by the Berichte der deutschen botanischen Gesellschaft on 14 March 1900. The second botanist to announce the discovery was Carl Correns , whose communication was received by the Berichte on 24 April. The third discoverer was Erik von Tschermak , whose paper was received on 2 June. The immediate results of these three papers was that Mendel could no longer be overlooked and that, at last, the importance of his work was recognized. Thus we might say that, in the summer of 1900, genetics was born. But the birth was long overdue and was by no means easy. There was rivalry and even some ill-feeling among those we may call the attending physicians.
The evidence for the iU-feeling is found primarily in the gossip that was current at the time--gossip that is recorded in some of the personal letters of the discoverers and of their students. De Vries, especially, became the target of much of the talk, and his motives and actions seem to have been questioned because of what might have been an accident in the order of publication. Years later, de Vries had obviously forgotten many of the details of his discovery and, at different times, he gave three different accounts as to how he had been led to Mendel's paper. But these divergent accounts only mean that great scientists, like other human beings, are forgetful, At times, their memories are absent without leave. De Vries himself admitted his memory lapse in a generally overlooked paper that he published in the Revue Gdn6ral de botanique