Product Code Database
Example Keywords: music games -ink $81-146
barcode-scavenger
   » Wiki: Scientist
Tag Wiki 'Scientist'.
Tag

A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the .

In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, engaged in the philosophical study of nature called natural philosophy, a precursor of natural science.

(2025). 9780226317830, University of Chicago, U.S.A. Press.
Though ( 624–545 BC) was arguably the first scientist for describing how cosmic events may be seen as natural, not necessarily caused by ,, Metaphysics Alpha, 983b18.Michael Fowler, Early Greek Science: Thales to Plato, University of Virginia RetrievedFrank N. Magill, The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography, Volume 1, Routledge, 2003
(1978). 9780398037543, Loose Leaf.
it was not until the 19th century that the term scientist came into regular use: it was coined by the , , and historian of science in 1833 to describe .
(2025). 9780226089287, University of Chicago Press.
(2025). 9780226317830, University of Chicago Press.


History
The roles of "scientists", and their predecessors before the emergence of modern scientific disciplines, have evolved considerably over time. Scientists of different eras (and before them, natural philosophers, mathematicians, natural historians, natural theologians, engineers, and others who contributed to the development of science) have had widely different places in society, and the , , and epistemic virtues associated with scientists—and expected of them—have changed over time as well. Accordingly, many different historical figures can be identified as early scientists, depending on which characteristics of modern science are taken to be essential.

Some historians point to the Scientific Revolution that began in 16th century as the period when science in a recognizably modern form developed. It was not until the 19th century that sufficient socioeconomic changes had occurred for scientists to emerge as a major profession.On the historical development of the character of scientists and the predecessors, see: Steven Shapin (2008). The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation. Chicago: Chicago University Press.


Classical antiquity
Knowledge about nature in classical antiquity was pursued by many kinds of scholars. contributions to science—including works of geometry and mathematical astronomy, early accounts of biological processes and catalogs of plants and animals, and theories of knowledge and learning—were produced by and , as well as practitioners of various trades. These roles, and their associations with scientific knowledge, spread with the and, with the spread of Christianity, became closely linked to religious institutions in most European countries. and became an important area of knowledge, and the role of astronomer/astrologer developed with the support of political and religious . By the time of the medieval university system, knowledge was divided into the trivium—philosophy, including natural philosophy—and the —mathematics, including astronomy. Hence, the medieval analogs of scientists were often either philosophers or mathematicians. Knowledge of plants and animals was broadly the province of physicians.


Middle Ages
Science in medieval Islam generated some new modes of developing natural knowledge, although still within the bounds of existing social roles such as philosopher and mathematician. Many proto-scientists from the Islamic Golden Age are considered , in part because of the lack of anything corresponding to modern scientific disciplines. Many of these early polymaths were also religious and : for example, and al-Biruni were ; the physician was a hafiz; the physician was a hafiz, and ; the botanist was a theologian and historian of Protestantism; the astronomer and physician Nicolaus Copernicus was a priest. During the Italian Renaissance scientists like Leonardo da Vinci, , and have been considered the most recognizable polymaths.


Renaissance
During the , made substantial contributions in science. Leonardo da Vinci made significant discoveries in paleontology and anatomy. The Father of modern Science,Einstein (1954, p. 271). "Propositions arrived at by purely logical means are completely empty as regards reality. Because Galileo realised this, and particularly because he drummed it into the scientific world, he is the father of modern physics—indeed, of modern science altogether."Stephen Hawking, Galileo and the Birth of Modern Science , American Heritage's Invention & Technology, Spring 2009, Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 36 , made key improvements on the thermometer and telescope which allowed him to observe and clearly describe the . Descartes was not only a pioneer of analytic geometry but formulated a of and advanced ideas about the origins of animal movement and . Vision interested the Young and Helmholtz, who also studied , hearing and . extended Descartes's mathematics by inventing (at the same time as Leibniz). He provided a comprehensive formulation of classical mechanics and investigated and optics. founded a new branch of mathematics — — studied flow and , and discovered the greenhouse effect. , Pierre de Fermat, Von Neumann, , Khinchin, and , all mathematicians, made major contributions to science and , including the ideas behind , and some of the foundations of statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Many mathematically inclined scientists, including , were also .

There are many compelling stories in and , such as the development of ideas about the circulation of from to . Some scholars and historians attributes to having contributed to the rise of the Scientific Revolution.

(2025). 9780521814560, Cambridge University Press.
Lindberg, David. (1992) The Beginnings of Western Science University of Chicago Press. p. 204.


Age of Enlightenment
During the age of Enlightenment, , the pioneer of bioelectromagnetics, discovered animal electricity. He discovered that a charge applied to the spinal cord of a frog could generate muscular spasms throughout its body. Charges could make frog legs jump even if the legs were no longer attached to a frog. While cutting a frog leg, Galvani's steel scalpel touched a brass hook that was holding the leg in place. The leg twitched. Further experiments confirmed this effect, and Galvani was convinced that he was seeing the effects of what he called animal electricity, the life force within the muscles of the frog. At the University of Pavia, Galvani's colleague was able to reproduce the results, but was sceptical of Galvani's explanation.
(1881). 9780415383813, G. Routledge and Sons. .

Lazzaro Spallanzani is one of the most influential figures in experimental physiology and the natural sciences. His investigations have exerted a lasting influence on the medical sciences. He made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions and animal reproduction.

discovered that can cause .


19th century
Until the late 19th or early 20th century, scientists were still referred to as "natural philosophers" or "men of science".Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men of Science. Friedrich Ueberweg, History of Philosophy: From Thales to the Present Time. C. Scribner's sons v.1, 1887Steve Fuller, Kuhn VS. Popper: The Struggle For The Soul Of Science. Columbia University Press 2004. Page 43. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1917. v.45 1917 Jan-Jun. Page 274 .

English philosopher and historian of science coined the term scientist in 1833, and it first appeared in print in Whewell's anonymous 1834 review of 's On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences published in the . To be exact, the person coined the term scientist was referred to in Whewell 1834 only as "some ingenious gentleman." Ross added a comment that this "some ingenious gentleman" was Whewell himself, without giving the reason for the identification. Ross 1962, p.72. Whewell wrote of "an increasing proclivity of separation and dismemberment" in the sciences; while highly specific terms proliferated—chemist, mathematician, naturalist—the broad term "philosopher" was no longer satisfactory to group together those who pursued science, without the caveats of "natural" or "experimental" philosopher. Whewell compared these increasing divisions with Somerville's aim of "rendering a most important service to science" "by showing how detached branches have, in the history of science, united by the discovery of general principles." Whewell reported in his review that members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science had been complaining at recent meetings about the lack of a good term for "students of the knowledge of the material world collectively." Alluding to himself, he noted that "some ingenious gentleman proposed that, by analogy with artist, they might form the scientist, and added that there could be no scruple in making free with this term since we already have such words as , and —but this was not generally palatable".

(2025). 9780007149537, Harper Press.

Whewell proposed the word again more seriously (and not anonymously) in his 1840 or . In the 1847 second edition, moved to volume 2 page 560. The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences:

He also proposed the term physicist at the same time, as a counterpart to the French word physicien. Neither term gained wide acceptance until decades later; scientist became a common term in the late 19th century in the United States and around the turn of the 20th century in .Tamara Preaud, Derek E. Ostergard, The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory. Yale University Press 1997. 416 pages. Page 36. By the twentieth century, the modern notion of science as a special brand of information about the world, practiced by a distinct group and pursued through a unique method, was essentially in place.


20th century
became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first person to win it twice. Her efforts led to the development of nuclear energy and Radiotherapy for the treatment of cancer. In 1922, she was appointed a member of the International Commission on Intellectual Co-operation by the Council of the League of Nations. She campaigned for scientist's right to patent their discoveries and inventions. She also campaigned for free access to international scientific literature and for internationally recognized scientific symbols.


Profession
As a profession, the scientist of today is widely recognized. The credential to be a scientist is a PhD.


Education
In modern times, many professional scientists are trained in an (e.g., and research institutes), mostly at the level of . Upon completion, they would normally attain an , with the highest degree being a such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Although graduate education for scientists varies among institutions and countries, some common training requirements include specializing in an area of interest, publishing research findings in scientific journals and presenting them at scientific conferences, giving or , and defending a during an . To aid them in this endeavor, graduate students often work under the guidance of a , usually a senior scientist, which may continue after the completion of their doctorates whereby they work as postdoctoral researchers.


Career
After the completion of their training, many scientists pursue careers in a variety of work settings and conditions. In 2017, the British scientific journal Nature published the results of a large-scale survey of more than 5,700 doctoral students worldwide, asking them which they would like to work in. A little over half of the respondents wanted to pursue a career in academia, with smaller proportions hoping to work in industry, government, and nonprofit environments.

Other motivations are recognition by their peers and prestige. The , a widely regarded prestigious award, is awarded annually to those who have achieved scientific advances in the fields of , , and .

Some scientists have a desire to apply scientific knowledge for the benefit of people's health, the nations, the world, nature, or industries (academic scientist and industrial scientist). Scientists tend to be less motivated by direct financial reward for their work than other careers. As a result, scientific researchers often accept lower average salaries when compared with many other professions which require a similar amount of training and qualification.


Research interests
Scientists include who mainly perform experiments to test hypotheses, and theoreticians who mainly develop models to explain existing data and predict new results. There is a continuum between the two activities and the division between them is not clear-cut, with many scientists performing both tasks.

Those considering science as a often look to the frontiers. These include cosmology and , especially molecular biology and the project. Other areas of active research include the exploration of at the scale of elementary particles as described by , and materials science, which seeks to discover and design new materials. Others choose to study function and , which is considered by many to be the "final frontier". There are many important discoveries to make regarding the nature of the and , much of which still remains unknown.


By specialization

Natural science

Physical science


Life science


Social science
    • Behavioral geneticist
    • Clinical psychologist
    • Cognitive psychologist
    • Developmental psychologist
    • Educational psychologist
    • Evolutionary psychologist
    • Experimental psychologist
    • Forensic psychologist
    • Health psychologist
    • Industrial and organizational psychologist
    • Medical psychologist
    • Social psychologist


Formal science


Applied


Interdisciplinary
  • Materials scientist
  • Mathematical biologist
  • Mathematical chemist
  • Mathematical economist
  • Mathematical physicist
  • Mathematical sociologist


By employer


Demography

By country
The number of scientists is vastly different from country to country. For instance, there are only four full-time scientists per 10,000 workers in India, while this number is 79 for the United Kingdom, and 85 for the United States.
+ Scientists per 10,000 workers for selected countries


United States
According to the National Science Foundation, 4.7 million people with science degrees worked in the in 2015, across all disciplines and employment sectors. The figure included twice as many men as women. Of that total, 17% worked in academia, that is, at universities and undergraduate institutions, and men held 53% of those positions. 5% of scientists worked for the federal government, and about 3.5% were self-employed. Of the latter two groups, two-thirds were men. 59% of scientists in the United States were employed in industry or business, and another 6% worked in non-profit positions.


By gender
Scientist and engineering statistics are usually intertwined, but they indicate that women enter the field far less than men, though this gap is narrowing. The number of science and engineering doctorates awarded to women rose from a mere 7 percent in 1970 to 34 percent in 1985 and in engineering alone the numbers of bachelor's degrees awarded to women rose from only 385 in 1975 to more than 11000 in 1985.


See also

Related lists
  • List of engineers
  • List of mathematicians
  • List of Nobel laureates in Physics
  • List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry
  • List of Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine
  • List of Russian scientists
  • List of Roman Catholic cleric-scientists


External articles
Further reading

Websites

Audio-Visual
  • "The Scientist", BBC Radio 4 discussion with John Gribbin, Patricia Fara and Hugh Pennington ( In Our Time, Oct. 24, 2002)

Page 1 of 1
1
Page 1 of 1
1

Account

Social:
Pages:  ..   .. 
Items:  .. 

Navigation

General: Atom Feed Atom Feed  .. 
Help:  ..   .. 
Category:  ..   .. 
Media:  ..   .. 
Posts:  ..   ..   .. 

Statistics

Page:  .. 
Summary:  .. 
1 Tags
10/10 Page Rank
5 Page Refs
2s Time