Why did it take so long to discover Mendelian inheritance?

[Ben Kenobi]

I have no idea how to characterize the chance of discovery, of course.

There's also the assumption that discoveries occur at a constant rate over time.

[Ben Kenobi]

My guess is no one else bothered to look and study the topic systematically.

Mendel's instructors actually tried - but with animals not peas - for the same reason that others gave in the thread - they'd been doing animal breeding for thousands of years, so they thought it would be easier. Prior to Goethe's work - no one had even tried to systematically investigate things.

[ricketyclik]

My guess is no one else bothered to look and study the topic systematically. To be sure the Austrian monk had lots of time and professional training plus scientific discovery was all the rage back then.

I go along with this. The vast bulk of people, myself included, are happy to go with what is and not try to explain it formally.