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The Making of A Scientist English 10
The Making of A Scientist English 10
V Public School
Submitted To:
Sangeeta Mam
Chapter-6
He thought that it would have been the end of his butterfly collection, if his mother
would have not got him a children’s book called - “The Travels of Monarch X”.
The book told how the monarch butterflies migrated to Central America.
It turned his curiosity towards science.
At the end of the children’s book the readers of the book were invited to help the
study of butterfly migrations.
They were asked to tag butterflies by Dr. Frederick A. Urquhart of the University of
Toronto in Canada.
The butterfly collecting season lasted for around 6 weeks.
So, he decided to raise a flock of butterflies in his basement. He used to catch a
female butterfly, collect its eggs and raise them in his basement through their proper
life cycles.
ORAL COMPREHESION
He wrote to Dr. Urquhart for ideas and he sent back a lot of ideas for his next
year’s project.
In his eighth class, he tried to find the cause of a viral disease that killed nearly all
monarch caterpillars every few years.
He started raising caterpillars in the presence of beetles. It was of no use but when
he showed that he had tried such an experiment, he won something for his
project.
For the next year, he tried the theory that viceroy butterflies copy monarchs.
He put forward the theory that viceroy butterflies look like monarchs because
monarchs do not taste good to the birds and birds like to eat viceroys.
He wanted to show in his project that would a bird eat monarchs or not. He found
out that the sterling bird would prefer eating a monarch.
It would eat all the monarchs it could get. (Ebright said Ornamental:
later research by other people showed that viceroys Serving or
probably do copy the monarch.) This project was placed intended as an
first in the zoology division and third overall in the ornament;
county science fair. decorative.
In his second year in high school, Richard Ebright began
the research that led to his discovery of an unknown
insect hormone. lndirectly, it also led to his new theory
on the life of cells.
The question he tried to answer was simple: What is the
purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch
pupa?
“Everyone assumed the spots were just ornamental,”
Ebright said. “But Dr Urquhart didn’t believe it.”
To find the answer, Ebright and another excellent
science student first had to build a device that showed
that the spots were producing a hormone necessary for
the butterfly’s full development.
This project won Ebright first place in the county fair
and entry into the International Science and
Engineering Fair.
VALUE POINTS:
Later research showed that the viceroys copied the monarchs. This project won him the
first division in the Zoology department and the third overall position in the county
science fair.
During his second year of high school, Richard started a research from which he found
about an unknown insect hormone that later helped him in his new theory about the life
of cells as well.
The question from where the research started was very simple as to - what was the
purpose of the 12 tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?
Most of the people said that the spots were made for making it look more decorative.
Dr. Urquhart did not believe in what others said.
Ebright and another excellent science student together made a device that proved that
these spots produced a hormone necessary for the full development of a butterfly from a
pupa.
With this, Ebright won the first prize at the County Science Fair and the entry to
International Science and Engineering Fair.
There he won third place for zoology. He also got a Entomology:
chance to work during the summer at the entomology The branch of
laboratory of the Walter Reed Army Institute of zoology
Research. concerned with
As a high school junior, Richard Ebright continued his the study of
insects.
advanced experiments on the monarch pupa. That year
his project won first place at the International Science
Fair and gave him another chance to work in the army
laboratory during the summer.
In his senior year, he went a step further. He grew cells
from a monarch’s wing in a culture and showed that the
cells would divide and develop into normal butterfly
wing scales only if they were fed the hormone from the
gold spots. That project won first place for zoology at
the International Fair. He spent the summer after
graduation doing further work at the army laboratory
and at the laboratory of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
The following summer, after his freshman year at
Harvard University, Ebright went back to the laboratory
of the Department of Agriculture and did more work on
the hormone from the gold spots.
VALUE POINTS:
There, his project won third prize for zoology.
He also got a chance to work at the entomology laboratory of the Walter Reed
Army Institute of Research.
He tried another experiment in which he grew cells from a monarch’s wing in a
culture and showed that cells would divide and develop into a normal butterfly
wing scales provided that they were treated with the hormone from the gold
spots.
This research of his won the first prize at the international fair.
He spent his summer after graduation doing more research on the subject at
the army laboratory and the laboratory of U.S department of agriculture.
ORAL COMPREHENSION
1. Why Richard used to tag the wings of the butterflies?
2. What did he come to know when he was in seventh class?
3. What did he try to find when he was in class eight?
4. What gave him entry to International Science and Engineering
Fair?
5. What did he find about the gold spots?
Using the laboratory’s sophisticated instruments, he Sophisticated
was able to identify the hormone’s chemical structure. : (of a machine,
A year-and-a-half later, during his junior year, Ebright system, or
got the idea for his new theory about cell life. It came technique)
while he was looking at X-ray photos of the chemical developed to a
structure of a hormone. high degree of
When he saw those photos, Ebright didn’t shout, complexity.
Eureka: A cry
‘Eureka!’ or even, ‘I’ve got it!’ But he believed that,
of triumph at a
along with his findings about insect hormones, the discovery
photos gave him the answer to one of biology’s puzzles: (originally
how the cell can ‘read’ the blueprint of its DNA. DNA is attributed to
the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls Archimedes)
heredity. It determines the form and function of the Heredity: The
cell. Thus DNA is the blueprint for life. Ebright and his passing on of
college room-mate, James R. Wong, worked all that physical or
night drawing pictures and constructing plastic models mental
characteristics
of molecules to show how it could happen. Together
genetically from
they later wrote the paper that explained the theory. one generation
Surprising no one who knew him, Richard Ebright to another.
graduated from Harvard with highest honours, second
in his class of 1,510.
VALUE POINTS:
Then he worked some more on the hormone released from the gold spots during the
following summers at the laboratory of the agriculture department.
He identified the chemical structure of the hormone using the lab’s special equipment.
After one and a half years, Ebright got the idea for his new theory which was about
the cell life.
He did not get excited about his discovery as soon as he found it, but came to a
realization that his years of study on the insect hormone had solved one of the puzzles
of biology.
It had solved the mystery of how cells read the blueprint of its DNA.
He found that as the DNA is in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity, therefore, it
determines the form and function of a cell. Hence, DNA is the blueprint of life.
It did not surprise the people who knew him that he graduated from Harvard with
highest honours and stood second in his class among 1510 students.
Ebright went on to become a graduate student Canoeist:
researcher at Harvard Medical School. There he began A person
doing experiments to test his theory. who
If the theory proves correct, it will be a big step towards paddles a
understanding the processes of life. It might also lead to canoe, a
new ideas for preventing some types of cancer and other light boat
diseases. All of this is possible because of Ebright’s
scientific curiosity. His high school research into
the purpose of the spots on a monarch pupa eventually
led him to his theory about cell life.
Richard Ebright has been interested in science since he
first began collecting butterflies — but not so deeply that
he hasn’t time for other interests. Ebright also became a
champion debater and public speaker and a good
canoeist and all-around outdoors-person. He is also an
expert photographer, particularly of nature and
scientific exhibits. In high school Richard Ebright was a
straight-A student. Because learning was easy, he turned
a lot of his energy towards the Debating and Model
United Nations clubs.
VALUE POINTS:
He then became a graduate student researcher at the Harvard University and
also started doing practical experiments to test his theory.
It was expected that if the theory proved to be correct, then it would be a big step
towards understanding the complex system of life and also would lead to new
ideas for preventing certain types of cancer and other diseases.
He had been keen in science ever since he started collecting butterflies but this
did not keep him away from his other interests in life.
He was a champion debater, a great public speaker and a good boat racer
(canoeist).
He was also an all round outdoor sports person along with being an expert
photographer.
He used to focus his extra energy on debating and Model United Nations Clubs.
He also found someone to admire — Richard A. Weiherer, Ingredient: A
his social studies teacher and adviser to both clubs. “Mr component
Weiherer was the perfect person for me then. He opened part or
my mind to new ideas,” Ebright said. element of
something.
“Richard would always give that extra effort,” Mr
Weiherer said. “What pleased me was, here was this
person who put in three or four hours at night doing
debate research besides doing all his research with
butterflies and his other interests.
“Richard was competitive,” Mr Weiherer continued, “but
not in a bad sense.” He explained, “Richard wasn’t
interested in winning for winning’s sake or winning to get
a prize. Rather, he was winning because he wanted to do
the best job he could. For the right reasons, he wants to be
the best.”
And that is one of the ingredients in the making of a
scientist. Start with a first-rate mind, add curiosity, and
mix in the will to win for the right reasons. Ebright has
these qualities. From the time the book, The Travels of
Monarch X, opened the world of science to him,
Richard Ebright has never lost his scientific curiosity.
VALUE POINTS:
He also used to admire his social studies teacher and an advisor to both clubs, Mr.
Richard A. Weiherer.
Ebright thought that his teacher was the right man as he was the one who used to
open his mind to new ideas.
His teacher was impressed with the fact that how Ebright would give an extra 3-4
hours of effort at night for the debate research apart from the time that he used to
give to his butterfly research and his other interests.
He added that he was competitive but not in a bad sense because he did not win to
get prizes or for the sake of winning but because he wanted to be the best at
whatever he did.
This is what makes a good scientist. He needs a first rated mind along with
curiosity and an added will to win for the right reasons.
Since the time Richard’s mother got him the book about migration of monarchs, his
curiosity towards science has just grown.
THEME
The Making of a Scientist is the story of a scientist named Richard H
Ebright. It is an interesting study of how Ebright became a scientist.
After the early death of her husband, Ebright was everything for his
mother. He used to get top grades in schools. At a very early age,
when he was just in the second standard, he had already collected 25
species of butterflies found around his hometown. The book The
Travels of Monarch X gave him a thorough knowledge about the
monarch butterflies. In the second year of his high school, Ebright
began to search an unknown hormone in the gold spots of butterflies.
In later years, he discovered how a cell could read the blueprint of its
DNA.
Created By: Sakshi Chandrakar
10 “F”