making of scientist

• Richard High Ebright - background (kindergarten)

  • only child - couldn’t play alone so collected things
  • grew up - north of Reading, Pennsylvania
  • collected rocks, fossils, coins, and butterflies.
  • became an eager astronomer, star-gazing all night.
• Mother - background

  • encouraged Richie‘s interest in learning
  • took him on trips and hang out with him
  • bought him telescopes, microscope, cameras, mounting materials, and other materials.
  • was his only companion till school started
  • gave him stuff to do (learn)
• Richard High Ebright - background (1st to 3rd grade)

  • driving curiosity with bright mind
  • earned top grades
  • 2nd grade - collected all 25 species of butterflies found in his hometown
  • 3rd grade - Richie’s father dies
• The Travels of Monarch X

  • book from Richie’s mother
  • detailed how Monarch butterflies migrate to Central America.
  • invited readers to study butterfly migration
  • tasked readers to tag butterflies for research by and to be sent to Dr Frederick A. Urquhart of University of Toronto, Canada
• Richard High Ebright - background (Monarchs)

  • attached light adhesive tags to monarchs wings
  • raised a flock of butterflies as butterfly collecting season only lasted 6 months -(In Reading, Pennsylvania)
  • tag butterfly wings and let them go
  • recaptured only two tagged butterflies - poor feedback
• Monarch life cycle

  • Female Monarch > Eggs > Caterpillar > Pupa > Adult
• Richard High Ebright - growing (7th grade)

  • entered county science fair - lost
  • slides of frog tissues under microscope
  • realised winners had tried to do real experiments, not simply make a neat display
  • wrote to Dr.Urquhart for experiment suggestions
• Richard High Ebright - growing (8th grade)

  • experiment to find the cause of a viral disease that kills nearly all monarch caterpillars every few years.
  • raised caterpillars along side beetles
  • won the country fair even if there was no real results
• Richard High Ebright - growing (9th grade)

  • Theory- viceroys look like monarchs because monarchs don’t taste good to birds. so the more they look like monarchs, the less likely they become a birds dinner.
  • starling ate monarchs (not ordinary bird food)
  • Theory could have been true
  • Zoology division - First, County Science Fair - Third
• Richard High Ebright - growing (10th grade)

  • Question- What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?
  • built device with another excellent science student to show spots produce necessary development hormone
  • spots were not ornamental
• Richard High Ebright - prizes (10th grade)

  • country fair - First place
  • entry in international science and engineering fair
  • zoology - third place
  • won chance to work at the entomology laboratory of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research - Summer
• Richard High Ebright - growing (11th grade)

  • experiment on monarch pupa
  • International Science Fair - First
  • chance to work at army laboratory- summer
• Richard High Ebright - growing (12th grade)

  • grew cells from monarch wings in a culture
  • cells divide and develop into normal butterfly wing scales if fed the hormone from the gold spots.
  • International Fair (zoology) - first
  • work at army and U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory
• Richard High Ebright - peaking (university - freshman)

  • Harvard University
  • Department of Agriculture - identifies hormone’s chemical structure
• Richard High Ebright - peak (university - junior)

  • idea for new theory of cell life - looking at X-ray photos of the chemical structure of a hormone
  • Question - how the cell can ‘read’ the blueprint of its DNA
  • Theory- DNA is the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity. It determines the form and function of the cell. Thus DNA is the blue print for life
• Richard High Ebright - peak (university - senior)

  • Proving his theory
  • models with James R. Wong (room-mate)
  • age 22 - Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (article)
  • former ’scout of the year‘
  • Harvard - highest honors and 2/1,510, and graduate student researcher at Harvard Medical School
• Cells theory importance

  • big step towards understanding process of life
  • lead to new ideas for preventing some types of cancers and other diseases.
• Richard High Ebright - growing (high school)

  • straight-A student
  • turned energy to Debating and Model UN clubs
  • Richard A. Weiherer (social studies teacher)
  • was admired by Richie
  • stated he got extra effort from Richie
  • stated Richie was competitive. for right reasons, he wanted to be the best (not for winning).
• Richard High Ebright - peak (university - senior)

  • became champion debater and public speaker
  • good canoeist, an all-around outdoors-person
  • expert photographer (nature and scientific exhibits)
  • got here becuase of his scientific curiosity
• Ingredients in the making of a scientist

  • start with a first-rate mind
  • will to win for the right reasons
  • scientific curiosity
• The Making of a Scientist

  • Author - Robert W. Peterson
  • Richie - received the Searle Scholar Award and the Schering Plough Award for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology