Extra Questions: The Making of a Scientist
Q. Richard’s mother had a great influence on him. Discuss.
Ans. Richard’s mother played a huge role in making him a great scientist. She would take him on trips to encourage learning. He was a single child. After his father died, his mother made him the focus of her life. She would buy him all kinds of microscopes, telescopes and other equipment. After dinner, she gave him problems to solve. This helped Richard to learn a lot. She was his only companion for a long time. She always tried to give him work that required no physical labour but those works enhanced his learning skill. It was his mother who got him the book ‘The Travels of Monarch X’. This book opened the world of science for Richard. She also wrote to Dr Urquhart to guide her son. The scientist helped Richard and guided him. Thus, his mother actually shaped him into an extra-ordinary scientist.
Q. What rare achievement did Richard manage at the age of 22?
Ans. Richard had a rare honour at the age of 22. He wrote an article with his friend about its theory of how cells work. The article was published in the scientific journal ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. ‘No one had this achievement at such a young age before him.
Q. How did ‘The Travels of Monarch X’ prove a turning point in Richard’s life?
Ans. Richard was bored with collecting butterflies. At this time his mother got the book ‘The Travels of Monarch X’ for him. After reading the book, he studied the migration of butterflies which told how monarch butterflies migrated to Central America and it opened the world of science to him.
Q. Why do viceroy butterflies copy the monarch butterflies?
Ans. Birds eat viceroy butterflies because they taste good to them, whereas monarch butterflies do not taste good to the birds. So, the viceroys try to copy the monarchs to protect themselves from the birds. Ebright has placed this project and it was the first in Zoology division.
Q. Which project did Richard undertake in the eighth grade?
Ans. Richard undertook the project to find the cause of a viral fever that had killed thousands of butterflies. He thought that a beetle might carry the virus, so he rose caterpillars in the presence of beetles. But he was not able to prove it.
Q. Richard’s project on the purpose of that 12 tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa was highly valuable in two ways. List the two ways.
Ans. This project had a huge impact. First, he discovered a hormone that was necessary for the growth of the pupa. Secondly, he got a chance to work at a famous laboratory as he won the first prize in the county fair and entry into the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Q. Mr Weiherer pays a glowing tribute to Richard. What did he say?
Ans. Mr Weiherer was Ebright’s social studies teacher. He praised him for his brilliant mind, his curiosity and a will to win for the right reason. He also admired Richard for his spirit to do his very best all the time.
Q. In addition to science what were the other interests of Richard?
Ans. Apart from science, Richard was a good debater and a public speaker as well as a canoeist and an outdoors person. He loved photography as well. He loved to collect different kinds of things and butterflies.
Q.What were the factors which contributed in making Ebright a scientist?
Ans. Three qualities of Ebright which contributed were-a first-rate mind, a sense of curiosity and a will to win for the right reasons. Due to these qualities, he became one of the greatest scientists ever.
Extract Based MCQs: The Making of a Scientist
Q. Read the following extracts carefully and choose the correct option.
1. So, he did, and did he ever! Beginning in kindergarten, Ebright collected butterflies with same determination that has marked all his activities.
(i) What does ‘he did’ in the extract refer to?
(a) Richard’s habit of collecting money
(b) Richard’s habit of storing water
(c) Richard’s habit of making stories
(d) Richard’s habit of collecting various things
(ii) What else did he collect other than butterflies?
(a) Fossils
(b) Coins
(c) Rocks
(d) All of these
(iii) Find a word from the extract which means ‘resoluteness’
(a) Collected
(b) Determination
(c) Dedication
(d) Marked
(iv) What part of speech is the word ‘Beginning’?
(a) Adjective
(b) Noun
(c) Preposition
(d) Conjunction
Answer:
(i) (d) Richard’s habit of collecting various things
(ii) (d) All of these
(iii) (b) Determination
(iv) (b) Noun
2. He would catch a female monarch, take her eggs and raise them in his basement through their life cycle….
(i) Who is ‘he’ in this extract?
(a) James R Wong
(b) Dr Frederick
(c) Richard A Weiherer
(d) Richard Ebright
(ii) Why did he raise butterflies?
(a) To export them to various countries
(b) To sell them
(c) To study their migration patterns
(d) To show them to his friends
(iii) Find the word which has the same meaning as the word ‘rear’ from the extract given above.
(a) Raise
(b) Cycle
(c) Foster
(d) Basement
(iv) What part of speech is ‘them’?
(a) Noun
(b) Verb
(c) Pronoun
(d) Adverb
Answer:
(i) (d) Richard Ebright
(ii) (c) To study their migration patterns
(iii) (a) Raise
(iv) (c) Pronoun
3. “It was really a sad feeling to sit there and not get anything while everybody else had won something.”
(i) Who is the speaker of the above lines?
(a) Richard’s mother
(b) Richard Ebright
(c) Dr Frederick
(d) James R Wong
(ii) Where was he competing at?
(a) He was competing at a country science fair
(b) He was competing at county science fair
(c) He was competing at an international science fair
(d) He was competing at a trinity fair
(iii) Find a word from the extract which is the opposite of ‘nobody’.
(a) Everyone
(b) Somebody
(c) Everybody
(d) All
(iv) …….. has the same meaning as ‘gloomy’ from the extract given above.
(a) Bad
(b) Mad
(c) Depressed
(d) Sad.
Answer:
(i) (b) Richard Ebright
(ii) (b) He was competing at county science fair
(iii) (c) Everybody
(iv) (d) Sad.
4. If the theory proves correct, it will be a big step towards understanding the processes of life.
(i) What is the theory about?
(a) How humans can read DNA
(b) How cells get to know about the neighbouring cells
(c) How cells treat their DNA
(d) How cells read their DNA
(ii) Who proposed the theory?
(a) James R Wong
(b) Richard Ebright
(c) Dr Frederick
(d) Both a and b
(iii) Which part of speech is ‘life’ as used in the given extract?
(a) Verb
(b) Adverb
(c) Noun
(d) Adjective
(iv) Which word in the extract means the same as ‘move’?
(a) Theory
(b) Step
(c) Processes
(d) Life
Answer:
(i) (d) How cells read their DNA
(ii) (d) Both (a) and (b)
(iii) (c) Noun
(iv) (b) Step
