jan 1, 1876 - Discovery of meiosis

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German scientist Oscar Hertwig identified meiosis in sea urchin eggs for the very first time in 1876. A decade had passed since, and the roundworm Ascaris' eggs underwent a similar method, as according Belgian biologist Edouard Van Beneden. August Weismann didn't understand the importance of the two cell division processes for the production of haploid gametes for fertilisation until the 1890s. These early observations culminated in 1911 with Thomas Hunt Morgan's discovery of crossing over, the exchange of genetic information between homologous chromosomes as a result of recombination, a crucial and fundamental aspect of meiosis. These observations predated the rediscovery of Mendel's work by Hugo de Vries and others in the 1900s.

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