CBSE Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet - The Making of a Scientist Summary & Notes

Summary of The Making of a Scientist

Chapter 6 of the Class 10 English Supplementary Reader ‘Footprints Without Feet’ consists of a story named The Making of a Scientist. The story is about a curious child, Richard Ebright and his journey to becoming a great scientist. Here, we bring you the prose summary in the form of CBSE English Notes Class 10. CBSE Class 10 students can access the prose summary of The Making of a Scientist here. While preparing for their Board exams, they can refer to the CBSE Class 10 English Prose Notes – The Making of a Scientist.

Students can also practice CBSE Essays on various topics to improve their writing section for the English exam.

CBSE Class 10 English The Making of a Scientist Summary

The Making of a Scientist was written by Robert W. Peterson. This prose is about a renowned scientist, Richard Ebright, who was a bright yet curious child from the early years of his life. He was very fond of collecting butterflies, and when he was in the second grade, he had already collected 25 species of butterflies in his home town. His mother always encouraged him in his efforts and gifted him a book named ‘The Travels of Monarch X’.

The book was a turning point in his life as it opened the world of science to him. It explained how monarch butterflies would migrate to Central America and made him more eager to explore the species. Soon, he participated in the county science fair and understood that he needed to do something exceptional. He continued with his efforts until he made a place for himself in the fair with valid experiments.

Later, in his eighth-grade project, he tried to discover the disease caused by a virus that nearly killed most of the monarch caterpillars every year. Ebright assumed that a beetle might be the carrier of the disease, so he started breeding caterpillars along with beetles. However, he didn’t get any results from this experiment. Nevertheless, he exhibited this experiment at the county science fair and won the competition that year.

During his second year of high school, Ebright started his scientific research about the discovery of a mysterious insect hormone, which led to his brand-new theory on the life of cells. His experiment was to find the main purpose of the twelve tiny golden spots on a monarch pupa. His project won first prize in a county science fair, and he got an opportunity to work at the entomology lab at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

As a junior in high school, he went on with his upgraded experiments on the monarch pupa and finally was successful in identifying the chemical structure of hormones. One fine day, while he was checking the X-ray photos of the chemical structure of a hormone, he understood how the cell could ‘read’ the blueprint of its DNA.

Ebright and his roommate in college, James R. Wong, worked day and night and drew pictures and constructed plastic models of molecules to illustrate how DNA works. This was a major leap in Ebright’s career as he secured a graduation degree from Harvard with the highest honours and stood second in a class of 1,510 students. His work was also published in a science magazine. Soon, he became a graduate student researcher at Harvard Medical School and started working on other experiments.

Richard Ebright was a straight-A student in high school. Besides, he took an interest in debate, public speaking and was also a good canoeist and an all-rounder outdoor person. He always had a competitive nature and zeal to give his best in everything that he put his hands into. Out and out, he had all the key ingredients of a brilliant scientist, starting with a first-rate mind blended with curiosity and a mix of willpower to win for the right reasons.

Conclusion of The Making of a Scientist

The Making of a Scientist teaches Class 10 students that we should be perseverant and dedicated towards our work. This will help us achieve our dreams and would bear the fruits of our labour someday, sooner or later. We hope this CBSE Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Prose Summary of The Making of a Scientist has helped students to have an in-depth understanding of the chapter.

Meanwhile, they can check BYJU’S for a plethora of resources on CBSE Notes and CBSE study material and access question papers, sample papers, etc., while prepping for their Board examinations. Also, they can download BYJU’S – The Learning App for more interactive educational content.