Richard Ebright grew up in Pennsylvania and showed an early talent for science, collecting butterflies and other specimens as a child. Encouraged by his mother, he delved deeper into scientific experiments, such as raising monarch butterflies. Through his participation in science fairs, Ebright gained recognition for projects like discovering the purpose of gold spots on monarch pupae. He went on to win international science fairs for experiments involving hormone production in butterfly cells. Ebright's curiosity and dedication helped him become a successful scientist.

1. The Making of a Scientist
Richard Ebright

2. The Making of a Scientist
This is the story of a young and bright scientist
named Richard H. Ebright.
He grew up north of Reading, Pennsylvania.
At the age of 24 he excited the scientific world
with his theory of cells.
As a child he collected rocks fossils and coins.

3. The role of his mother
 A great driving force in making of him as a
scientist
 Always encouraged him & developed his
interest in learning
 Took him on trips
 Bought him telescope, microscopes, cameras,
mounting materials etc.
 Got him the book ‘The Travels of Monarch X’
which opened a new world for him

4. The role of his
mother
He was her –
(i) whole life after his father’s death,
(ii) only companion
She would find work for him that will
make him learn new things, if does not
have any some day.
He liked it and wanted to learn too.

5. Early Childhood Talent
By the time he was in second
grade , he had collected all the
twenty five species of the
butterflies found around his
home town in six weeks.

6. The Travels of Monarch
X
 The book is about how butterflies migrate to
Central America.
 It was written by Dr. Frederick Urquhart of
the University of Toronto, Canada.
 Readers were invited to help study butterfly
migration.
 He also asked readers to tag them for research.
 This book opened a world of science to this
young collector.

7. The Travels of Monarch
X to catch so many of
 But it was impossible
them in six weeks.
 So he started raising a flock of butterflies
in the basement of his house.
 He would catch a female monarch, take her
eggs and raise them. (Life Cycle)
 But as he didn’t get much feedback he
started losing interest in it.

8. Experience in the
Science Fair he
When he was in the seventh grade,
participated in a science fair and lost.
Here he gets a hint of what real science
is. He learns that science is not a neat
display of something but doing real
experiments.
He had just shown slides of frog tissues.

9. Further Achievements
 He wrote to Dr. Urquhart for ideas and got
many suggestions for experiments.
 He kept on working on them throughout his
high school which led him to many prize projects
on national & international levels.
 In eighth class he found out the cause of a viral
disease that killed all monarch caterpillars. He
raised them in presence of beetles.

10. Why viceroy butterflies copy monarchs
 They are the food of birds.
 Viceroys taste good whereas monarchs do not
taste good for birds.
 The viceroys look like monarchs because they
want to trick the birds and save themselves.
 This project was placed first in the zoology
division.

11. His theory on the life of cells
 He tried to find out the purpose of the twelve
tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa.
 Earlier it was assumed that they were just
ornamental.
 But later Ebright , along with his fellow
students, showed that the spots were producing
a hormone necessary for their full development.
 It gave him entry in the International Science
& Engineering Fair

12. Further Achievements
 In his senior year, he grew cells from a
monarch’s wings in a culture and showed
that the cells would divide and develop
into normal butterfly wing scales only if
they were fed the hormones from the gold
spots.
 This project won him the first place for
zoology at the international fair.

13. X-ray photos of chemical structure of a hormone
 He studied the photos of the chemical
structure of a hormone in the X-ray.
 This photo solved his doubt on DNA.
 He determined that the DNA is the substance
in the nucleus that controls heredity.
 So DNA was established to be the blueprint
for life.

14. The Making of a Scientist
 Richard Ebright became a scientist because he
had a driving curiosity along with a bright
mind.
 He started his journey from collecting the
butterflies.
 This led him to discover the theory of life cells.
 He was not just interested in science.
 He took interest in other activities too.

15. The Making of a Scientist
 There art many qualities that go into making of
a scientist.
 He was curious, dedicative and hardworking.
 He was competitive but not in a bad sense.
 He had a will to win.
 He was intelligent and worked for the right
reasons.
 He didn’t run after prizes.