When Richard Ebright did not win anything at the science fair, he realized that the winners had tried to conduct real experiments. He, on the other hand, had simply made a neat display. He had shown slides of frog tissues under a microscope. It was the first time that he got a hint of what real science was. This event served to develop the competitive spirit in him. Ultimately, it was this spirit of enthusiasm and competitiveness that drove him to achieve new heights in science.