The Making of a Scientist Class 10 PPT

 Page 1


THE MAKING OF A 
SCIENTIST
Page 2


THE MAKING OF A 
SCIENTIST
He had been interested in science since hisboyhood years. At the age of twenty-two
he excited the scientific world with a new theory. It was concerned with the working
of cells. Ebright and his college room-mate explained the theory in an article. It was
published in the journalentitled ‘Pr o ce edings ofthe NationalAcademy of Science ’.It
was first of his many achievements in the field of science. It started with his studies
on ‘but t erflies’.
Ebright was the only child of his parents. They lived in the north of Reading,
Pennsylvania. There was nothing for Ebright to do there. He had no companions. He
was not a good player.But hishobby was collecting things.Ebright was fascinated by
butterflies. He started collecting butterflies in kindergarten. He also collected rocks,
fossilsandcoins.Healsobecameastar-gazerandaneagerastronomer.
Ebr igh t ’ smotherrecognizedhiscuriosityandencouragedhim.Shetookhimontrips.
She also bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras and other equipment so that
he could follow his hobbies. Ebr igh t ’ s mother was his friend until he started school.
She would bring home friends to him. He was her whole life after her husband ’ s
death.
Page 3


THE MAKING OF A 
SCIENTIST
He had been interested in science since hisboyhood years. At the age of twenty-two
he excited the scientific world with a new theory. It was concerned with the working
of cells. Ebright and his college room-mate explained the theory in an article. It was
published in the journalentitled ‘Pr o ce edings ofthe NationalAcademy of Science ’.It
was first of his many achievements in the field of science. It started with his studies
on ‘but t erflies’.
Ebright was the only child of his parents. They lived in the north of Reading,
Pennsylvania. There was nothing for Ebright to do there. He had no companions. He
was not a good player.But hishobby was collecting things.Ebright was fascinated by
butterflies. He started collecting butterflies in kindergarten. He also collected rocks,
fossilsandcoins.Healsobecameastar-gazerandaneagerastronomer.
Ebr igh t ’ smotherrecognizedhiscuriosityandencouragedhim.Shetookhimontrips.
She also bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras and other equipment so that
he could follow his hobbies. Ebr igh t ’ s mother was his friend until he started school.
She would bring home friends to him. He was her whole life after her husband ’ s
death.
Ebrigh t ’ s mother would find work for Richie if he had nothing to do. She found learning
tasks for him. He had a great hunger for learning. He earned top grades in school. By the
time he was in second grade. he had collected 25 species of butterflies. These were found
around in hometown. One day his mother gave him a chi l dr en’ s book. It opened the world
ofsciencetoEbright.
That book was ‘ Th e Travels of Monarch X’. It described how monarch butterflies migrate to
Central America. This book fascinated him. At the end of the book, readers were invited to
help study butterfly migrations. They were asked to tag butterflies for research by Dr
Frederick A. Urquhart of Toronto University. Canada. Anyone who found a tagged butterfly
was asked to send the tag to Dr Urquhart. Ebright started tagging monarch butterflies. The
butterfly collecting season around Reading lasts only six weeks in late summer. He realized
that chasing the butterflies one by one w on’t enable him to catch many. So he decided to
raise a flock of butterflies. He would catch a female monarch and take her eggs. He would
raise them in his basement from egg to caterpillar to pupa to adult butterfly. Then he
wouldtagthe but t er flies’wingsandletthemgo.
Page 4


THE MAKING OF A 
SCIENTIST
He had been interested in science since hisboyhood years. At the age of twenty-two
he excited the scientific world with a new theory. It was concerned with the working
of cells. Ebright and his college room-mate explained the theory in an article. It was
published in the journalentitled ‘Pr o ce edings ofthe NationalAcademy of Science ’.It
was first of his many achievements in the field of science. It started with his studies
on ‘but t erflies’.
Ebright was the only child of his parents. They lived in the north of Reading,
Pennsylvania. There was nothing for Ebright to do there. He had no companions. He
was not a good player.But hishobby was collecting things.Ebright was fascinated by
butterflies. He started collecting butterflies in kindergarten. He also collected rocks,
fossilsandcoins.Healsobecameastar-gazerandaneagerastronomer.
Ebr igh t ’ smotherrecognizedhiscuriosityandencouragedhim.Shetookhimontrips.
She also bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras and other equipment so that
he could follow his hobbies. Ebr igh t ’ s mother was his friend until he started school.
She would bring home friends to him. He was her whole life after her husband ’ s
death.
Ebrigh t ’ s mother would find work for Richie if he had nothing to do. She found learning
tasks for him. He had a great hunger for learning. He earned top grades in school. By the
time he was in second grade. he had collected 25 species of butterflies. These were found
around in hometown. One day his mother gave him a chi l dr en’ s book. It opened the world
ofsciencetoEbright.
That book was ‘ Th e Travels of Monarch X’. It described how monarch butterflies migrate to
Central America. This book fascinated him. At the end of the book, readers were invited to
help study butterfly migrations. They were asked to tag butterflies for research by Dr
Frederick A. Urquhart of Toronto University. Canada. Anyone who found a tagged butterfly
was asked to send the tag to Dr Urquhart. Ebright started tagging monarch butterflies. The
butterfly collecting season around Reading lasts only six weeks in late summer. He realized
that chasing the butterflies one by one w on’t enable him to catch many. So he decided to
raise a flock of butterflies. He would catch a female monarch and take her eggs. He would
raise them in his basement from egg to caterpillar to pupa to adult butterfly. Then he
wouldtagthe but t er flies’wingsandletthemgo.
He got busy with other scientific experiments. He entered a county science fair. His
entries were slides of frog tissues. But he did not win any prize He realised that the
winners had tried to do real experiments. So he decided to do further research in his
favouritefield,thatis,insectsonwhichhehadalreadybeendoingwork.
Ebright wrote to Dr Urquhart for ideas. In reply, the famous scientist gave him many
suggestions for experiments. These experiments kept Ebright busy all through high
school. He also won many prizes in the county and international science fairs. For his
eighth grade project, Ebright tried to find the cause of a viral disease that killed all
monarch caterpillars. He thought the disease might be carried by a beetle. He tried
raising caterpillars in the presence of beetles. But he didn’t get any real results. But he
showedhisexperimentinthesciencefairandwon.Thenextyearhissciencefairproject
was testing the theory that viceroy butterflies imitate monarchs. He said that viceroys
look like monarchs because birds do not find monarchs tasty. By copying monarchs, the
viceroysescapebeingeatenbybirds.Hisprojectwastoseeifbirdswouldeatmonarchs.
This project was placed first in the zoology division and third overall in the county
sciencefair.
Page 5


THE MAKING OF A 
SCIENTIST
He had been interested in science since hisboyhood years. At the age of twenty-two
he excited the scientific world with a new theory. It was concerned with the working
of cells. Ebright and his college room-mate explained the theory in an article. It was
published in the journalentitled ‘Pr o ce edings ofthe NationalAcademy of Science ’.It
was first of his many achievements in the field of science. It started with his studies
on ‘but t erflies’.
Ebright was the only child of his parents. They lived in the north of Reading,
Pennsylvania. There was nothing for Ebright to do there. He had no companions. He
was not a good player.But hishobby was collecting things.Ebright was fascinated by
butterflies. He started collecting butterflies in kindergarten. He also collected rocks,
fossilsandcoins.Healsobecameastar-gazerandaneagerastronomer.
Ebr igh t ’ smotherrecognizedhiscuriosityandencouragedhim.Shetookhimontrips.
She also bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras and other equipment so that
he could follow his hobbies. Ebr igh t ’ s mother was his friend until he started school.
She would bring home friends to him. He was her whole life after her husband ’ s
death.
Ebrigh t ’ s mother would find work for Richie if he had nothing to do. She found learning
tasks for him. He had a great hunger for learning. He earned top grades in school. By the
time he was in second grade. he had collected 25 species of butterflies. These were found
around in hometown. One day his mother gave him a chi l dr en’ s book. It opened the world
ofsciencetoEbright.
That book was ‘ Th e Travels of Monarch X’. It described how monarch butterflies migrate to
Central America. This book fascinated him. At the end of the book, readers were invited to
help study butterfly migrations. They were asked to tag butterflies for research by Dr
Frederick A. Urquhart of Toronto University. Canada. Anyone who found a tagged butterfly
was asked to send the tag to Dr Urquhart. Ebright started tagging monarch butterflies. The
butterfly collecting season around Reading lasts only six weeks in late summer. He realized
that chasing the butterflies one by one w on’t enable him to catch many. So he decided to
raise a flock of butterflies. He would catch a female monarch and take her eggs. He would
raise them in his basement from egg to caterpillar to pupa to adult butterfly. Then he
wouldtagthe but t er flies’wingsandletthemgo.
He got busy with other scientific experiments. He entered a county science fair. His
entries were slides of frog tissues. But he did not win any prize He realised that the
winners had tried to do real experiments. So he decided to do further research in his
favouritefield,thatis,insectsonwhichhehadalreadybeendoingwork.
Ebright wrote to Dr Urquhart for ideas. In reply, the famous scientist gave him many
suggestions for experiments. These experiments kept Ebright busy all through high
school. He also won many prizes in the county and international science fairs. For his
eighth grade project, Ebright tried to find the cause of a viral disease that killed all
monarch caterpillars. He thought the disease might be carried by a beetle. He tried
raising caterpillars in the presence of beetles. But he didn’t get any real results. But he
showedhisexperimentinthesciencefairandwon.Thenextyearhissciencefairproject
was testing the theory that viceroy butterflies imitate monarchs. He said that viceroys
look like monarchs because birds do not find monarchs tasty. By copying monarchs, the
viceroysescapebeingeatenbybirds.Hisprojectwastoseeifbirdswouldeatmonarchs.
This project was placed first in the zoology division and third overall in the county
sciencefair.
In his second year in high school, Eb righ t ’ s research led to his discovery of
an unknown insecthormone.Indirectly,itled tohisnew theory on thelife
of cells. This project won Ebright first place in the county fair and entry
into the International Science and Engineering Fair. There he won third
place for zoology. He also got a chance to work in Walter Reed Army
InstituteofResearch.
Ebr igh t ’ s interest in butterflies never abated. As a high school junior, he
continued his advanced experiments on the monarch pupa. His project
won first place at the International Science Fair. That project won first
place for zoology at the International Fair. He also worked at the army
laboratory and at the U.S. Dept. of Agri cultur e’ s laboratory. The following
summerEbrightwentbacktotheDept.of Ag ricu ltur e’ slabandworkedon
the hormone theory. Finally, he was able to identify the horm one’ s
chemicalstructure.