His efforts were rejected and failed to make him famous or successful

Mendel originally delivered his findings to the Brünn Natural Science Society in two distinct presentations in 1865. The next year, Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn, the society's magazine, published his article, "Experiments on Plant Hybrids." Despite being sent to many libraries and receiving reprints, it gained little notice. People who read it tended to get the conclusion that Mendel had just shown more convincingly what was previously commonly accepted—namely, those hybrid children revert to their originating forms. They failed to take into account the scope for variation and the evolutionary ramifications that his proof of trait recombination opened up.

It is unknown how many copies of Mendel's article he circulated, and it appears that he made little attempt to promote his work. Only eight of the forty reprints he ordered have been located. There are 15 sources known from the 19th century that mention Mendel concerning plant hybridization, excluding the journal that published his research. Few of these, most of which are quite brief, give a clear picture of his accomplishment.

After Mendel's passing and 35 years after the publication of his article, Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns rediscovered his discoveries in 1900, which is when the tremendous significance of his work was first understood. As a result, starting in the 1900s, his name gained notoriety.