The Making of Scientist

Ans. When Ebright could not win a prize at the science fair, he learnt that winners do real experiment, they don’t simply display slides. Then he started conducting experiments. It was definitely a stepping stone towards his success. His competitive nature, extra efforts and the will to win for the right reasons made him a successful scientist.

Ans. Ebright’s mother was a great help to him. She always encouraged his interest in learning and finding more. She took him out on trips. In fact, she also bought him a telescope, a microscope, cameras, mounting materials and other equipment’s that helped him in many ways.

Ans. Richard Ebright decided to conduct real experiments after he did not win anything in the science exhibition. He tried to find the cause of a viral disease that kills nearly all Monarch caterpillars every few years. After that, he also began his research into the discovery of an unknown insect Monarch.

Ans. Richard Ebright as a child had developed a keen interest for collecting things like rocks, fossils, coins and butterflies. By the time he reached his second grade, he had collected all the twenty-five species of butterflies found in Pennsylvania. He also started tagging the Monarch’s at the behest of the author Dr. Tredrick A. Urgu Hart.

Ans. According to Ebright’s teacher, the essential qualities of becoming a scientist are to have a first rate mind, and have a lot of curiousity. Along with that, the person should have the zeal to excel for the sake of doing the best job.

Ans. Ebright used to tag butterflies wings and let them go. In fact, the basement of his house was home to thousands of monarch butterflies. He started losing interest in it because it was a tedious job and there wasn’t much feedback.

Ans. Ebright had all the qualities necessary for making a scientist. He possessed a first rate mind, curiousity and the will to win for the right reasons. ‘The Travels of Monarch X’ opened the world of science to him. He never lost his scientist curiousity. Ebright was a straight ‘A’ grade student. He had other interests also. His social studies teacher Richard A. Weiherer opened his mind to new ideas. He also became a champion debater and public speaker. He was also a good canoeist and an all-round outdoor person. He was also an expert photographer of nature and scientific exhibits.

Ans. Richard Ebright conducted an experiment on a flock of butterflies and raised the eggs of female monarchs. In addition to this, he also studied the cause of a viral disease that killed all monarch caterpillars. He also tried to find out similarities between viceroy, butterflies and monarch. The study of insect hormones helped him in giving a new theory on the life of cells. Eventually, he was able to find the hormone behind the full development of a butterfly wings. All these experiments led him to conclude that cells grew from a monarch’s wings. He found that cells would divide and grow into a normal butterfly if they were fed a hormone that was found in the gold spots of the monarch. Hence, he proved a new theory which formed the blue print of DNA. The DNA is the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity. It determines the form and function of the cell. This DNA is the blueprint for life. The experiments conducted by Ebright amply showed him how to be a successful scientist.

Ans. Richard Ebright’s mother played a major role in making him a great scientist. Ebright had always been curious to learn new things and had a sharp mind. His mother used to encourage him to learn. She used to take him on learning trips, used to buy him different equipment’s that would help in learning new things. His mother was his only friend until he went to school. After he stared going to school, his mother would get his friends home. He and his mother used to stay together at night and they used to do and learn things together.

Richard who was nicknamed Richie by his mother was her while life and support system after his father died when he was in third grade. They used to spend most of the evenings together. If he did not have anything to do, his mother would find him some task for learning. He used to like the learning work that his mother used to give him as that was what he wanted to do, learn about more and more new things. By the time he was in second class, he had collected all the 25 species of butterflies that were found in his neighbourhood. He thought that it would have been the end of his butterfly collection, if his mother would have not got him a book called “the travels of Monarch X”. The book was the turning point for Ebright as it turned his curiosity towards science. This book opened the world of science for Richard. She also wrote to Dr Urquhart to guide her son. The scientist helped Richard and guided him. Thus, his mother actually shaped him into an extraordinary scientist.

Ans. 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 research was based on what was the purpose of the 12 tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa? For a long time, the scientific community has regarded the bright spots on a monarch pupa as purely ornamental. But Dr. Urquhart did not believe it. Nor did Richard 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.

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. His theory could find answers to cancer and other diseases. Thus, Ebright’s high school research into the purpose of the spots on a monarch pupa indirectly led him to his theory about cell life.

Ans. Richard Ebright was a genius and a bright student. When he was in his second grade he managed to collect all twenty-five species of butterflies around his hometown. He also loved to collect coins, fossils and rocks. Richard Ebright along with his roommate, surprised the world at the young age of 22 when they explained the theory on how cells work in a paper published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Science. This valuable magazine had published the work of college students for the first time. Science was not his only passion in life.

He has been keen in science ever since he started collecting butterflies but this did not keep him away from his other interests. He was also an all-round outdoor sports person along with being an expert photographer. He was great at capturing nature and scientific subjects. As he was a great student and always used to score good, he used to focus his extra energy on debating and Model United Nations Clubs. Learning was easy for him. So he found it simple to devote time and energy to many other interests.

He became a champion in whatever he did. He believed in the spirit of competition to win. But, he did not wish to defeat others just to win. He wanted to win to do his best. Thus, Richard Ebright displayed an all-rounder personality.

Ans. Ebright grew up in Pennsylvania and was the only child of his parents. He said that he could only do one thing alone and that was collecting things as he has no friends to play football or baseball with. He had begun collecting butterflies, rocks, fossils and coins from the time when he was in kindergarten. He had collected all twenty-five species of butterflies found around his hometown. “That probably would have been the end of my butterfly collecting,” he said. But then his mother got me a children’s book called “The Travels of Monarch X.” That book, which told how monarch butterflies migrate to Central America opened the world of science to the eager young collector.

Richard came in contact with Dr Urquhart through the book. 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 the University of Toronto, Canada. Richard also participated but he eventually I began to lose interest in tagging butterflies. It was tedious and there was nothing much feedback according to Richard. When he was in seventh class, he came to know what real science was as he lost at a county science fair. He had already started developing the competitive spirit inside him. Now he had decided that he would be making a real project for the next year’s fair.

He wrote to Dr. Urquhart for ideas and he sent back a lot of ideas for his next year’s project. He remained busy with those ideas all throughout his high school and won many prizes. Later, he worked on why bright spots are found on a monarch pupa, motivated by Dr. Urquhart. It led to the discovery of a new hormone. The discovery of this new hormone further led to an important theory. The theory was about how cells read their DNA. In this way Dr. Urquhart proved to be his true mentor.

Ans. Richard Ebright was a successful and brilliant scientist. To be a successful scientist one must have certain elements and values in them. Richard 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 what makes a good scientist. He had a first rated mind along with curiosity and an added to win for the right reasons. Curiosity to know more and a motivation to find reasons for existence of anything or any phenomena are necessary for becoming a successful scientist.

The urge to know more develops the scientific aptitude in a person. At a very young age, Ebright became competitive by participating in various county fairs. He never lost hope and kept on trying to do better. Ebright displayed the qualities of hard work, sincerity, determination and patience. He also accepted failure and success in the right spirit. Thus, all the above values can make one a successful scientist.

Ans. Success is the fruit of failure. Success never comes straight but through failure. This is very well seen in the life of Richard Ebright. Ebright was a bright kid. He earned top grades in school. But he also faced many failures in his life. When he was in seventh grade he participated in County Science Fair with his slides of frog tissues. But he could not win a prize. It was a really a sad feeling for him to see all other people win something while he did not win anything. Richard realized that all the winners had actually tried to perform an experiment and not just make a neat display out of their projects.

Richard became determined to make a real project for the next year’s fair. In his eighth grade, Richard again participated in the science fair with experiment of viral disease that killed nearly all monarch caterpillars every few years and won the prize. Similarly, he continued working on different experiments and he was able to win prizes. Failure is the stepping stone to success. When Richard faced the failure in the science fair then only he realised that how he has to take the step further and he became successful in his experiments. Thus, success of Richard was fruit of failure of Richard at the county science fair.

Ans. When Ebright got the book “The Travels of Monarch X” from his mother he got to know about Dr. Urquhart. When Richard participated in a county science fair he could not win and was feeling sad and he realized that all the winners had actually tried to perform an experiment and not just make a neat display out of their projects. So, he wrote to Dr. Urquhart for ideas. In reply, the famous scientist gave him many suggestions for experiments. Ebright worked on these ideas. One of the project was 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 showed his experiment in the science fair and won. The next year for the science fair project Ebright tested the theory that Viceroy butterflies imitate Monarchs. By copying monarchs, the viceroys escape being eaten by birds. This project was placed first in the zoology division and third overall in the county science fair. The next experiment was on the twelve gold spots found on the pupa of the Monarch butterfly which led to the discovery of new insect hormone required for complete the development of a butterfly. Thus, these were the various experiments performed by Richard on Monarch butterflies.

Ans. In his second year in high school, Ebright’s research led to his discovery of an unknown insect hormone. Indirectly, it led to his new theory on the life of cells also. He tried to answer a very simple question. What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa? Everyone assumed the spots were just ornamental but Dr. Urquhart didn’t believe it. To find the answer, Ebright and another excellent science student first 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 third prize in international Science and Engineering Fair in Zoology. 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. 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 gold spots. Using the laboratory’s sophisticated instruments, he was able to identify the hormone’s chemical structure.

Ans. Richard Ebright is an all-rounder and genius. He was a competent scientist, a lovable son, a respecting pupil and a man with varied interests and hobbies. By the time Ebright was in the second grade, he collected all twenty-five species of butterflies found around in his hometown. Ebright was a great learner. He participated in county science fair where he learnt an important lesson that winner do real experiments than making a neat display. The book, Travels of Monarch X given to him by his mother opened the world of science to the eager young collector.

Richard’s mother was her only companion and they spent almost every evening at the dining table. She encouraged his interest in learning. Richard had all essential ingredients a good scientist must have. He had a first-rate mind, curiosity and will to win for the right reasons. Richard performed various successful experiments based on the theory that viceroy butterflies copied monarch butterflies escape being eaten by birds, hormone produced from twelve gold spots of monarch pupa, DNA controls heredity and is the blueprint for life. Ebright was more than a scientist.

He found time for other interests and hobbies. He was a champion debater and public speaker, a good canoeist and expert photographer. Thus, Richard Ebright was a brilliant scientist and also an all-rounder. He was best at whatever he did and had all the essential qualities a successful scientist must have.