A scientist is a person who conducts
scientific research to advance knowledge in an
area of the
natural science
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
s.
In
classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead,
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
s engaged in the
philosophical study of nature called
natural philosophy, a precursor of
natural science
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
.
Though
Thales (circa 624-545 BC) was arguably the first scientist for describing how cosmic events may be seen as natural, not necessarily caused by gods,
[Frank N. Magill]
''The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography'', Volume 1
Routledge, 2003 it was not until the
19th century
The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium.
The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...
that the term ''scientist'' came into regular use after it was coined by the
theologian,
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
, and historian of science
William Whewell in 1833.
In modern times, many scientists have
advanced degrees in an area of
science and pursue careers in various
sectors of the economy
One classical breakdown of economic activity distinguishes three sectors:
* Primary: involves the retrieval and production of raw-material commodities, such as corn, coal, wood or iron. Miners, farmers and fishermen are all workers in the pr ...
such as
academia,
industry,
government, and
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
environments.
''
''
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
social norms,
ethical values
In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of dif ...
, and
epistemic virtues The epistemic virtues, as identified by virtue epistemology, virtue epistemologists, reflect their contention that belief is an ethical process, and thus susceptible to the intellectual virtue or vice of one's own life and personal experiences. Some ...
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 wasn't until the 19th century that sufficient socioeconomic changes had occurred for scientists to emerge as a major profession.
Classical antiquity
Knowledge about nature in classical antiquity was pursued by many kinds of scholars.
Greek 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
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
s and
physicians, as well as practitioners of various trades. These roles, and their associations with scientific knowledge, spread with the
Roman Empire and, with the
spread of Christianity
Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century in the Roman province of Judea, from where it spread throughout and beyond the Roman Empire.
Origins
Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine" in the syn ...
, became closely linked to religious institutions in most of European countries.
Astrology and
astronomy became an important area of knowledge, and the role of astronomer/astrologer developed with the support of political and religious
patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
. By the time of the
medieval university system, knowledge was divided into the ''
trivium''—philosophy, including
natural philosophy—and the ''
quadrivium''—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
polymaths, in part because of the lack of anything corresponding to modern
scientific disciplines. Many of these early polymaths were also religious
priests and
theologians: for example,
Alhazen
Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the prin ...
and
al-Biruni were
mutakallimiin; the physician
Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
was a
hafiz; the physician
Ibn al-Nafis was a hafiz,
muhaddith and
ulema; the botanist
Otto Brunfels 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,
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
,
Galileo Galilei and
Gerolamo Cardano have been considered as the most recognizable polymaths.
Renaissance
During the
Renaissance,
Italians 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."]
Galileo Galilei, made key improvements on the thermometer and telescope which allowed him to observe and clearly describe the solar system.
Descartes was not only a pioneer of
analytic geometry
In classical mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry.
Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineerin ...
but formulated a
theory of
mechanics and advanced ideas about the origins of
animal movement and
perception.
Vision interested the
physicists
Young and
Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Association, ...
, who also studied
optics,
hearing and
music.
Newton
Newton most commonly refers to:
* Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist
* Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton
Newton may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film
* Newton ( ...
extended Descartes's mathematics by inventing
calculus (at the same time as
Leibniz). He provided a comprehensive formulation of
classical mechanics and investigated
light and optics.
Fourier founded a new branch of mathematics —
infinite, periodic series — studied
heat flow
Flow may refer to:
Science and technology
* Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid
* Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology
* Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set
* Flow (psych ...
and
infrared radiation, and discovered the
greenhouse effect.
Girolamo Cardano,
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer.
He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...
Pierre de Fermat,
Von Neumann,
Turing,
Khinchin
Aleksandr Yakovlevich Khinchin (russian: Алекса́ндр Я́ковлевич Хи́нчин, french: Alexandre Khintchine; July 19, 1894 – November 18, 1959) was a Soviet mathematician and one of the most significant contributors to th ...
,
Markov and
Wiener, all mathematicians, made major contributions to science and
probability theory, including the ideas behind
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
s, and some of the foundations of
statistical mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic be ...
and
quantum mechanics. Many mathematically inclined scientists, including
Galileo
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
, were also
musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
s.
There are many compelling stories in
medicine and
biology, such as the development of ideas about the circulation of
blood from
Galen to
Harvey. Some scholars and historians attributes
Christianity to having contributed to the rise of the
Scientific Revolution.
Age of Enlightenment
During the age of Enlightenment,
Luigi Galvani
Luigi Galvani (, also ; ; la, Aloysius Galvanus; 9 September 1737 – 4 December 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher, who studied animal electricity. In 1780, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs ...
, the pioneer of the
bioelectromagnetics, discovered the 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
Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (, ; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian physicist, chemist and lay Catholic who was a pioneer of electricity and power who is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the ...
was able to reproduce the results, but was sceptical of Galvani's explanation.
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.
Francesco Redi
Francesco Redi (18 February 1626 – 1 March 1697) was an Italian physician, naturalist, biologist, and poet. He is referred to as the "founder of experimental biology", and as the "father of modern parasitology". He was the first person to cha ...
discovered that
microorganisms can cause
disease.
19th century
Until the late 19th or early 20th century, scientists were still referred to as "
natural philosophers" or "men of science".
English philosopher and historian of science
William Whewell coined the term ''scientist'' in 1833, and it first appeared in print in Whewell's anonymous 1834 review of
Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...
's ''
On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences
''On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences'', by Mary Somerville, is one of the best-selling science books of the 19th century. The book went through many editions and was translated into several European languages. It is considered one of th ...
'' published in the ''
Quarterly Review
The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River ...
''.
[ 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 "
enderinga 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
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
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
he word
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
''scientist'', and added that there could be no scruple in making free with this term since we already have such words as ''
economist'', and ''
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
''—but this was not generally palatable".
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
Great Britain.
[ 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
Marie Curie became the first female 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. However, there is no formal process to determine who is a scientist and who is not a scientist. Anyone can be a scientist in some sense. Some professions have legal requirements for their practice (e.g. licensure) and some scientists are independent scientists meaning that they practice science on their own, but to practice science there are no known licensure requirements.
Education
In modern times, many professional scientists are trained in an academic setting (e.g., universities and research institute
A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...
s), mostly at the level of graduate schools. Upon completion, they would normally attain an academic degree
An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including unde ...
, with the highest degree being a doctorate such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Although graduate education
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree.
The organization and struc ...
for scientists varies among institutions and countries, some common training requirements include specializing in an area of interest, publishing research findings in peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research.
Content
Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...
s and presenting them at scientific conferences, giving lectures or teaching, and defending a thesis (or dissertation) during an oral exam
The oral exam (also oral test or '; ' in German-speaking nations) is a practice in many schools and disciplines in which an examiner poses questions to the student in spoken form. The student has to answer the question in such a way as to demons ...
ination. To aid them in this endeavor, graduate students often work under the guidance of a mentor, 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
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research.
Content
Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...
'' Nature'' published the results of a large-scale survey of more than 5,700 doctoral students worldwide, asking them which sectors of the economy
One classical breakdown of economic activity distinguishes three sectors:
* Primary: involves the retrieval and production of raw-material commodities, such as corn, coal, wood or iron. Miners, farmers and fishermen are all workers in the pr ...
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 Nobel Prize, a widely regarded prestigious award, is awarded annually to those who have achieved scientific advances in the fields of medicine, physics, and chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
.
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
Applied science is the use of the scientific method and knowledge obtained via conclusions from the method to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted ...
). 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 experimentalists who mainly perform experiments to test hypotheses, and theoreticians who mainly develop models
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
to explain existing data and predict new results. There is a continuum between two activities and the division between them is not clear-cut, with many scientists performing both tasks.
Those considering science as a career often look to the frontiers. These include cosmology and biology, especially molecular biology and the human genome project. Other areas of active research include the exploration of matter at the scale of elementary particles as described by high-energy physics, and materials science, which seeks to discover and design new materials. Others choose to study brain function and neurotransmitter
A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse. The cell receiving the signal, any main body part or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell.
Neuro ...
s, which is considered by many to be the "final frontier". There are many important discoveries to make regarding the nature of the mind
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
and human thought
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, a ...
as much still remains unknown.
By specialization
Natural science
=Physical science
=
=Life science
=
Social science
Formal science
Applied
Interdisciplinary
By employer
* Academic
* Independent scientist
* Industrial/applied scientist
* Citizen scientist
Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...
* Government scientist
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.
United States
According to the National Science Foundation, 4.7 million people with science degrees worked in the United States 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
* Engineers
* Inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
* Researcher
* Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
* Hippocratic Oath for Scientists
* History of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
* Intellectual
* Independent scientist
* Licensure
* Mad scientist
* Natural science
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
* Nobel Prize
* Protoscience
* Normative science
* Pseudoscience
* Scholar
* Science
* Social science
; Related lists
* List of engineers
Types of engineer include:
* Chartered Engineer
* European Engineer
* Incorporated Engineer
* Professional Engineer
* Royal Engineer
Lists of individual engineers by discipline include:
* List of aerospace engineers
* List of canal engineers
* Li ...
* List of mathematicians
Lists of mathematicians cover notable mathematicians by nationality, ethnicity, religion, profession and other characteristics. Alphabetical lists are also available (see table to the right).
Lists by nationality, ethnicity or religion
* List ...
* List of Nobel laureates in Physics
* List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry ( sv, Nobelpriset i kemi) is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nob ...
* List of Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine
* List of Russian scientists
* List of Roman Catholic cleric-scientists
This is a list of Catholic clergy throughout history who have made contributions to science. These churchmen-scientists include Nicolaus Copernicus, Gregor Mendel, Georges Lemaître, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Pierre Gassendi, Roger Joseph Bo ...
References
External articles
; Further reading
* Alison Gopnik
"Finding Our Inner Scientist"
Daedalus, Winter 2004.
* Charles George Herbermann, The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Science and the Church
'. The Encyclopedia press, 1913. v.13. Page 598.
* Thomas Kuhn, '' The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'', 1962.
* Arthur Jack Meadows. ''The Victorian Scientist: The Growth of a Profession'', 2004. .
* Science,
The Relation of Pure Science to Industrial Research
'. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Page 511 onwards.
; Websites
For best results, add a little inspiration
- The Telegraph about ''What Inspired You?'', a survey of key thinkers in science, technology and medicine
Peer Review Journal Science on amateur scientists
The philosophy of the inductive sciences, founded upon their history (1847) - Complete Text
; Audio-Visual
"The Scientist"
BBC Radio 4 discussion with John Gribbin, Patricia Fara and Hugh Pennington (''In Our Time'', Oct. 24, 2002)
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