bateson was the first to suggest the word "genetics" to describe the study of inheritance, in a letter to adam sedgwick, dated april 18, 1905. bateson first used the term "genetics" publicly at the third international conference on plant hybridization in london in 1906. although this was three years before wilhelm johannsen used the word "gene" to describe the units of hereditary information, de vries had introduced the word "pangene" for the same concept already in 1889 and etymologically the word genetics finds its origin in darwin's concept of pangenesis.