Definition: Scientist

From New World Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Scientist)

Etymology

Coined by English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell (1794–1866) in March 1834 in an anonymous review of Mary Somerville's book On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences in the Quarterly Review as a suggested replacement for, and later seriously introduced by him in 1840 as a more precise substitute for, the terms "natural philosopher" and "man of science." Modeled after artist, from the Latin stem scientia (knowledge) + -ist.

Noun

scientist (plural scientists)

  1. One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research, or make use of the results of the research of others.

Derived terms

  • bench scientist
  • chief scientist
  • citizen scientist
  • computer scientist
  • creation scientist
  • criminal scientist
  • data scientist
  • environmental scientist
  • geoscientist
  • mad scientist
  • natural scientist
  • political scientist
  • pseudoscientist
  • rocket scientist
  • social scientist
  • soil scientist

Related terms

  • science
  • scientific
  • scientifical
  • scientifically
  • scientificness
  • scientism
  • scientistic
  • scientistical
  • scientistically

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