Extracts of The Making of a Scientist | Class 10 | English |

Extracts of The Making of a Scientist | Class 10 | English |

Stanza 1

An only child, Ebright grew up north of Reading, Pennsylvania. “There wasn’t much I could do there,” he said. “I certainly couldn’t play football or baseball with a team of one. But there was one thing I could do collect things.” So he did, and did he ever! Beginning in kindergarten, Ebright collected butterflies with the same determination that has marked all his activities. He also collected rocks, fossils, and coins. He became an eager astronomer, too, sometimes star-gazing all night.

Q1. Name the chapter.

Ans :The Making of a Scientist

Q2. Who is the author of The Making of a Scientist?

Ans : Robert W. Peterson

Q3. What all did Ebright collect in his initial years of schooling?

Ans : Ebright collected butterflies, rocks, fossils and coins. Besides, he became and eager astronomer who gazed stars all the night.

Q4. Find out the antonym of the word ‘Patient’ from the extract?

Ans : Eager

Stanza 2

From the first he had a driving curiosity along with a bright mind. He also had a mother who encouraged his interest in learning. She took him on trips, bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras, mounting materials, and other equipment and helped him in many other ways. “I was his only companion until he started school,” his mother said. “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.”

Q1. Who is ‘He’ in the first line?

Ans : Richard Ebright

Q2. When did Richard’s father die?

Ans : Richard’s father died when former was in third grade.

Q3. Find out the synonym of the word ‘Associate’ from the extract?

Ans : Companion

Q4. Who supported Ebright in his research? How?

Ans : Ebright was supported by his mother in all this research. She encouraged him to learn, took him to trips and bought him all the apparatus required for his research such as; telescope, microscope, cameras and many more.

Stanza 3

Then in the seventh grade he got a hint of what real science is when he entered a county science fair and lost. “It was really a sad feeling to sit there and not get anything while everybody else had won something,” Ebright said. His entry was slides of frog tissues, which he showed under a microscope. He realised the winners had tried to do real experiments, not simply make a neat display.

Q1. What made Ebright sad in that fair?

Ans : Ebright was a prodigy but he couldn’t win any prize. This feeling made him little despondent there.

Q2. What had Ebright prepared for that fair?

Ans : Ebright had prepared slides to frog tissue to be showed under a microscope.

Q3. What did Ebright realise in the end?

Ans : Ebright realised his mistake of not doing the real experiments. He lost for had focused more on neat display than doing the real experiment.

Q4. Find out the antonym of the word ‘Counterfeit’ from the extract.

Ans : Real

Stanza 4

Ebright’s project was to see whether, in fact, birds would eat monarchs. He found that a starling would not eat ordinary bird food. It would eat all the monarchs it could get. (Ebright said later research by other people showed that viceroys probably do copy the monarch.) This project was placed first in the zoology division and third overall in the county science fair.

Q1. What is monarch?

Ans : It is a large American butterfly having deep orange wings with black and white markings.

Q2. What was the purpose of Ebright’s project?

Ans : The purpose of Ebright’s project was to see whether birds eat monarchs or not.

Q3. What was the outcome of Ebright’s making a project?

Ans : Ebright’s project won many laurels to him. His project stood first in zoology division and third in country’s science fair.

Q4. How is Viceroy different from that of monarch?

Ans : Viceroy is smaller in size than monarch. They both resemble each other.

Stanza 5

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. That project won first place for zoology at the International Fair. He spent the summer after graduation doing further work at the army laboratory and at the laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Q1. What die Ebright grow from the wing of a monarch?

Ans : Ebright grew cells from the wing of a monarch in a culture.

Q2. How could the cells of a monarch’s wings develop into a normal butterfly according to Ebright?

Ans : According to Ebright if cells were fed the hormone from the gold spots, the cells would divide and develop into normal butterfly.

Q3. What was the outcome that Ebright’s project?

Ans : Ebright’s project won the first prize for Zoology at the international fair.

Q4. Where did Ebright spend his summer after his graduation?

Ans : Richard Ebright spent his summer after graduation working at laboratories of army and U.S Department of Agriculture. 

Stanza 6

In high school Richard Ebright was a straight-A student. Because learning was easy, he turned a lot of his energy towards the Debating and Model United Nations clubs. He also found someone to admire  Richard A. Weiherer, his social studies teacher and adviser to both clubs. “Mr Weiherer was the perfect person for me then. He opened my mind to new ideas,” Ebright said.

Q1. From where did Ebright complete his graduation from?

Ans : Richard Ebright completed his graduation from Harvard.

Q2. What were the areas of interest of Richard Ebright?

Ans : Ebright was more focused towards Debates and Model United Nations Clubs.

Q3. Find out the synonym of the ‘Impeccable’ from the extract?

Ans : Perfect

Q4. Who brought a transition in Ebright’s life and opened his mind to new idaes?

Ans : Richard Ebright’s social studies teacher Mr. Richard A. Weiherer was the one who changed his perspective of viewing the things and life.

We would love your reading of The Making of a Scientist, Madam Rides the Bus, The Sermon at Benares, Glimpses of India, The Proposal, Bholi, The Necklace, The Hack Driver, Amanda, Animals & The Tale of Custard The Dragon for better understanding of the chapters/poems and scoring higher.

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