English Class 10 - X CBSE SR 6 - Making of a Scientist Material

 INTRODUCTION

Richard H. Ebright has contributed significantly to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. When Ebright was a little child, he used to collect butterflies, rocks, fossils, and coins. He was an eager star-gazer also. But he was mainly interested in butterflies. During his school as well as college days, he did many experiments for which he was awarded many prizes. Most of his experiments were on butterflies. These experiments were a milestone in the world of science.

SUMMARY

Richard H. Ebright is one of the leading scientists. He has contributed significantly to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He had been interested in science since his boyhood 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 roommate explained the theory in an article. It was published in the journal entitled "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science". It was the first of his many achievements in the field of science. It started with his studies on 'butterflies'.

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 his hobby was collecting things. Ebright was fascinated by butterflies. He started collecting butterflies in kindergarten. He also collected rocks, fossils, and coins. He also became a star-gazer and an eager astronomer.

Ebright‘s mother recognized his curiosity and encouraged him. She took him on trips. She also bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras, and other equipment so that he could follow his hobbies. Ebright‘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. 

Ebright'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 his hometown. One day his mother gave him a children‘s book. It opened the world of science to Ebright.

That book was 'The 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 wouldn‘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 would tag the butterflies‘ wings and let them go.

However, soon Ebright began to lose interest in tagging butterflies. The reason was that there was no feedback. He was a little disappointed as only two butterflies had been recaptured. And they had been found not more than seventy-five miles from where he lived. By the time, Ebright reached the seventh grade. 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 favourite field, that is, insects on which he had already been doing work.

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 showed his experiment at the science fair and won. The next year his science fair project 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 viceroys escape being eaten by birds. His project was to see if birds would eat monarchs. This project was placed first in the zoology division and third overall in the county science fair.

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. He tried to answer a very simple question: What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa? To find the answer Ebright and another student built a device that 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 county fair and entry into the International Science and Engineering Fair. There he won third place in zoology. He also got a chance to work at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Ebright‘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. 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 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 laboratory and at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture‘s laboratory. The following summer Ebright went back to the Dept. of Agriculture‘s lab and worked on the hormone theory. Finally, he was able to identify the hormone‘s chemical structure.

A year-and-a-half later, one day, Ebright was seeing the X-ray photos of the chemical structure of cells. He got the idea for his new theory about cell life. Those photos provided him with the answer to one of biology‘s puzzles: 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. Ebright and his college roommate James R. Wong drew pictures and constructed plastic models of molecules to show how it could happen.

No one was surprised when Richard Ebright graduated from Harvard with the highest honours. He also became a graduate student researcher at Harvard Medical School. There he began experimenting to test his theory if the theory proves correct it will be a big step towards understanding the life processes. It might also lead to new ideas for preventing some types of cancer and other diseases.

Ebright has many other interests also. He also became a champion debater and public speaker, a good canoeist, and an all-around outdoor person. He was also an expert photographer of nature and scientific exhibits.

Ebright‘s social studies teacher, Richard Weiherer had high praise for him. Ebright said about his teacher 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. He said that Ebright was competitive, but not in a bad sense. In the end, the writer says Ebright possessed those traits that are necessary for the making of a scientist. These are: Start with a first-rate mind, add curiosity, and mix in the will to win for the right reasons. Ebright had these qualities. 

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