Chapter 6

The Making of a Scientist

Ebright's achievement at young age

A former 'scout of the year excited the Scientific world with a new theory. This he did at the age of 22 years. It was on how cells work. Richard H. Ebright and his college roommate explained the theory in an article. It was titled Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. It was his first achievement. It started with butterflies.

Ebright as a child

Ebright was the only child of his parents. They lived in north of Reading, Pennsylvania. Ebright wrote that there was nothing to do He could not play footbal or baseball. But he could collect things.

As a collector of things

Ebright started collecting butterflies in kindergarten. He also collected rocks, fossils and coins. He also became a star-gazer and an eager astronomer. His mother encouraged him. She took him on trips. She also bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras and other equipment.

Ebright and his mother

Ebright sold his article at 15 to a scientific journal. It was like a home run scored in the game of baseball Ebright's mother said that she was his friend until he started schodl. She would bring home friends for him. He was her whole life after her husband's death. Richie was in third grade then.

Ebright's collection

Ebright's mother would find work for Richie if he had nothing to do It was for learning, He wanted to learn He earned top grades in school. When he was in second grade, he had collected 25 species of butterflies. These were found around his hometown.

Ebright gets a book

Then Ebright's mother gave him a children's book. It was The Travels of Monarch X. It told how monarch butterfilies migrate to Central America. This opened the world of science to Ebright.

Tagging of butterflies

At the end of the book, readers were invited to help study butterfly migrations. They were asked to tag butterflies for research. It was being done by Dr. Frederich A. Urquhart of Toronto University. Canada. Ebright started tagging monarch butterflies. Anyone who found a tagged butterfly was asked to send the tag to Dr. Urquhart.

Ebright rears butterflies

The butterfly collecting season around Reading lasts six weeks in late summer. Chasing them one by one won't enable one to catch many. So Ebright raised a flock of butterflies. He would catch a female monarch and take her eggs. He would raise them in his basement from ego to adult butterfly. Then he would tag the butterflies wings and let them go

Loses interest

Soon Ebright began to lose interest in-tagging butterflies The reason was that there was no feedback. Only two butterflies had been caught. Iheir distance was not more than seventy-five miles from where he lived.

Decides to do real experiments

In seventh grade Ebright got a hint of what real science is. He entered a country science fair and lost. His entries were slides of frog tissues. He realised that the winners had tried to do real experiments. So he decided to do a real experiment. The subject was the insect work that he had already been doing.

Writes to Dr. Urquhart

He wrote to Dr. Urquhart for ideas. Back came many Suggestions for experiments. These kept Ebright busy all through high school These also led him to prize projects in country and international science fairs.

His research wins

For his eight-grade project, Ebright tried to find the cause of a viral disease It 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 showed his experiment and won.

His theory on butterflies

The next year his science fair project was testing the theory. The theory was that Viceroy butterflies copy monarchs.he theory was that viceroys look like monarchs because monarchs don't taste good to birds. Viceroys taste good to birds. So the more they look ke monarchs, the less likely they are to become a bird's food. His project was to see if birds would eat monarchs.

Project wins

He found that a starling would not eat ordinary bird food. It would eat all the monarchs it would get. This project was placed first in the Zoology division. It came third overall in the country science fair.

New theory

In his second year in high school Ebright began the research. It led to his discovery of an unknown insect hormone. Indirectly, it led to his new theory on the life of cells.

About gold spots on butterflies

The question he tried to answer was simple. What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa 2 Everyone assumed the spots were just ornamental But Dr. Urquhart didnit believe it.

About hormone

To find the answer Ebright and another student built a device. It showed that the spots were producing a hormone. It was necessary for the butterfly's full development. This project won Ebright first place in the country fair. It also won an 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 Amy Institute of Research.

Continues advanced experiments

As a high school junior, he continued his advanced experiments on the monarch pupa. That year his project won first place at the International Science Fair.

Importance of cells

In his senior year he grew cells from a monarch's wing in a culture He showed that the cells would divide and develop into normal butterfly wing scales. This would be only if they were fed the hormone from the gold spots That project won first place for Zoology at the international Fair. He also Worked at the army lab and at the U.S. Dept. Of agriculture's lab.

Identifies the hormone

The following summer Ebright went back to the Dept, of Agriculture's lab. There he worked on the hormone theory. Finally he was able to identify the hormone's chemical structure.

About DNA

A year-and-a half later, Ebright got the idea for his new theory about cell life. He did so while seeing the X-ray photos of this chemical structure. The photos gave him the answer to one of biology's puzzles. It was: how the cell can 'read' the blueprint of its DNA. DNA is the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity. It is the blueprint for life.

Paper about the experiment

Ebright and his college roommate James R. Wang drew pictures and constructed plastic models. They made them to show how it could happen. Together they later wrote the paper explaining the theory

Testing the theory

Surprisingly Richard Ebright graduated from Harvard with highest honours He also became a graduate student researcher at Harvard Medical School. There he began experimenting to test his theory.

Advantages of the theory

If the theory proves correct it will be a big step towards understanding life processes. It might also lead to new ideas These would be new for preventing types oft cancer and other diseases

Ebright's other interests

Ebright has other interests also. He became a champion debater and public speaker. He also became a good canoeist and all-round outdoors-person He is also an expert photographer of nature and scientific exhibits.

Ebright and his teacher

Ebright also found someone to admire. He was Richard A. Weiherer, his social studies teacher Ebright said about him that he opened his mind to new ideas. Richard A. Weiherer also spoke highly of Ebright about his interests. He won because he wanted to do the best job

Things which make a scientist

These things are a necessity 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. bright had these qualities.

We hope CBSE/MP Board class 10th English "Foot Print without Feet" Chapte6 " The making Of A Scientist " Notes will help you.

Written By - Swati sharma