The idea of mutations are brought forth by Gregor Mendel, who worked on Pisum sativum; Charles Darwin, who observed a wide variety of organisms during sea voyage; Hugo do Vries, who worked on evening primrose; Hardy Weinberg, who worked on allele frequencies in a population.

Hugo de Vries based on his work on evening primrose brought forth the idea of mutations- large arising suddenly in a population. He believed that it is mutation which causes evolution and not the minor variations (heritable) that Darwin talked about. Mutations are random and directionless while Darwinian variations are small and directional.