Class 10 English Footprints without Feet Chapter 6, The Making of a Scientist by Robert W. Peterson, traces how curious only child Richard H. Ebright grew from collecting butterflies in Reading, Pennsylvania—guided by his mother and The Travels of Monarch X—into a Harvard researcher whose cell-biology theory was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science at age twenty-two.
What Class 10 English (Footprints without Feet) Chapter 6 Covers
Story Summary: The Making of a Scientist (Robert W. Peterson) Growing up north of Reading, Pennsylvania after his father died when he was in third grade, Richard Ebright was his mother’s whole life; she took him on trips, bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras and mounting materials, and gave him the children’s book *The Travels of Monarch X* after he had already collected all twenty-five species of butterflies around his hometown by second grade. Answering Dr Frederick A. Urquhart’s invitation at the end of the book, Ebright tagged monarch butterflies for years. In seventh grade, losing at the county science fair with a neat display of frog tissue slides taught him a crucial lesson: real science is doing real experiments, not just making a neat display. Next year he tested whether beetles carried a viral disease killing monarch caterpillars; the following year he tested the theory that viceroy butterflies copy monarchs to avoid birds; in his second year of high school, asking the simple question ‘What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?’ led him and a fellow student to prove the spots produced a hormone necessary for the butterfly’s full development, winning first place at the International Science and Engineering Fair and summer work at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Identifying the hormone’s chemical structure in his senior year gave Ebright (and his college roommate James R. Wong) their breakthrough theory on how cells read the blueprint of their DNA.
Exercises in Chapter 6
- Read and Find Out & Think about It cover how a book (The Travels of Monarch X) became a turning point in Richard Ebright’s life, how his mother helped him, what lesson he learned when he did not win anything at his first county science fair, what experiments and projects he then undertook, and the three qualities that go into the making of a scientist.
Read Class 10 English (Footprints without Feet) Chapter 6 Online
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FAQ
What are the three essential qualities that go into the making of a scientist, according to the author?
At the end of the chapter, the author identifies three ingredients in the making of a scientist: (1) a first-rate mind, (2) curiosity, and (3) the will to win for the right reasons—wanting to do the best job he could rather than winning merely for a prize.
How did the book ‘The Travels of Monarch X’ become a turning point in Richard Ebright’s life?
By the time Ebright was in second grade, he had already collected all twenty-five species of butterflies found around his hometown, which might have ended his butterfly collecting. Then his mother gave him the children’s book The Travels of Monarch X, which told how monarch butterflies migrate to Central America and invited readers to help Dr Frederick A. Urquhart at the University of Toronto study butterfly migrations by tagging them—opening the world of real scientific research to young Ebright.