DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL-BOPAL, AHMEDABAD
CLASS: X
SUBJECT- ENGLISH
STUDY MATERIAL (2024-25)
The Making of a Scientist – Richard H. Ebright
Theme
‘The Making of a Scientist’ is the story of a scientist named Richard H. Ebright. It traces the
journey of how he becomes a scientist. The story dwells upon the early encouragement he got
from his mother which fuelled his interest in science and his inherently acute sense of
observation which led him to discover how a cell could read the blueprint of the DNA.
Message
The path to becoming a scientist begins with observation, is paved with determination and
perseverance and culminates in the ability to consolidate years of findings into
comprehensive verifiable reports. The desire for scientific achievement can take a few clues
from Ebright’s life who started at an early age and went on to make a great discovery in cell
theory.
1. Based on the extracts given below, answer the questions that follow.
I. “After that I would bring home friends for him. But at night we just did things together.
Richie was my whole life after his father died when Richie was in third grade.”
(a) Who says the above words?
(b) Why did the speaker ‘bring home friends’?
(c) What kind of things did they do together?
(d) What does the expression ‘whole life’ mean?
Answers:
(a) Richard’s mother says these words
(b) Richard was an only child with no companions living in his neighbourhood.
(c) Richard’s mother and he spent almost every evening at the dinner table. She found work
for him and he wanted to learn.
(d) The focus of all her activities
II. 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. Ebright’s mother wrote to Dr Urquhart, and soon Ebright was attaching
light adhesive tags to the wings of monarchs. Anyone who found a tagged butterfly was asked
to send the tag to Dr Urquhart.
(a) Which book does the above extract refer to?
(b) What was the purpose of tagging butterflies?
(c) Find a word from the extract which means ‘labelled’.
(d) What was the locater of the butterfly asked to do?
Answer:
(a) It refers to the book ‘The travels of Monarch X’ gifted to him by his mother.
(b) To help study patterns of migration
(c) ‘Tagged’ from the extract means ‘labelled’.
(d) The locater of the butterfly was asked to send the tag to Dr. Urquhart.
III. “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.
(a) Who was Mr Weiherer?
(b) What did Mr. Weiherer observe about Ebright?
(c) How did Richard manage to excel at debate and science?
(d) When did Richard work on his debates?
Answer:
(a) Mr. Weiherer was Ebright’s Social studies teacher and advisor at both the Debating and
Model United Nations clubs
(b) He was pleased with the fact that Richard put in an extra effort.
(c) He put in hours of research for his debate in addition to his scientific research
(d) He worked three or four hours at night.
2. Answer the following in about 40 to 50 words each.
1.How did Richard begin collecting things?
Answer: Richard was an only child and so couldn’t play team sports like football or
basketball. He could, however, collect things. He started collecting butterflies in
Kindergarten. He also collected rocks, fossils and coins
2. Why do viceroy butterflies copy monarch butterflies? What reasons were ascribed to
this fact by Richard?
Answer: Viceroy butterflies tasted good to birds. Richard observed this and gave a possible
reason for it. In order to protect themselves, they mimicked Monarch butterflies which didn’t
taste good to birds using a common camouflaging technique in nature.
3.Why did Richard admire about Mr. Weiherer?
Answer: Mr. Weiherer was Richard’s Social Studies teacher and his advisor in the debating
and Model United Nations clubs. According to Richard, he was the perfect person to guide
him because he opened his mind to new ideas.
4.What was the significance of the gold spots on the monarch pupa?
Answer: There were twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa were believed to bejust
ornamental. But Dr. Urquhart didn’t believe it. Richard built a device that showed that the
spots were producing a very important hormone which was necessary for the butterfly’s full
development.
5. How can you say that Richard was an all-rounder?
Answer: 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.
3. Answer the following in about 120-150 words.
1. Scientific skill involves experimentation and observation. How did Richard realise
this?
Answer: Richard was in 7th grade when he entered a County Science fair. He entry was
prepared slides of frog tissues which he had shown under the microscope. He lost the
competition. He was really sad as everyone else had won something but he hadn’t. He
turned his attention to observing what the winners had done. He observed that the winners
had tried to do real experiments, not merely display facts. This made him realise that
scientific skill includes experimentation, not just observation. He realised that he had failed
to make a mark because he had focused on making a neat display. He should have
conducted a real experiment and displayed the results. This was a turning point for Richard
Ebright. He realised what real science was all about. In the next year, he tried to find the
viral disease which killed caterpillars, was carried by a beetle and won.
2. Richard Ebright was an ideal scientist. Contrast his character to that of Griffin from
the lesson ‘Footprints without feet’.
Answer: Richard started began his association with science at a very young age. He was
guided by other scientists like Dr. Urquhart in his childhood. He followed the traditional
bath of becoming a scientist, taking up topics which interested him and made a path
breaking discovery about how the cell could read the DNA blueprint. He was persistent,
determined and above all ethical in all aspects of life.
Griffin, on the other hand, is a fictional character created by H.G. Wells. He is portrayed
as a brilliant scientist who invented a drug that could make him invisible. He is portrayed
as a character with little regard for tradition or respect for the law. Instead of using his
brilliance for the good of human kind, he breaks the law repeatedly and uses his invention
on for his selfish needs.
