physicist

From physics + -ist. Coined by the English polymath William Whewell (1794–1866) in his book The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840): see the quotation.

coinage

Thus we may say, that while the Naturalist employs principally the ideas of resemblance and life, the Physicist proceeds upon the ideas of force, matter, and the properties of matter.

1840, William Whewell, “Aphorisms Concerning the Language of Science. Aphorism VI. When Common Words are Appropriated as Technical Terms, this Must be Done so that They are Not Ambiguous in Their Application.”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, page lxxi:

Physicists find themselves called in to deal with such varied problems as the reduction of noise in diesel railcars, investigation of the Hertzian stresses set up by wheel-rail contact and improvement of the insulation of fish and banana vans.

1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The role of research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 95:

A person whose occupation specializes in the science of physics, especially at a professional level.


rocket scientist

en-noun

rocket scientist (plural rocket scientists)

Rocket scientists have calculated that a velocity of seven miles per second, or approximately 25,000 miles per hour, would be necessary for a rocket to escape the earth's gravity.

1940 August, “Seeking Power for Space Rockets”, in H[enry] H[aven] Windsor, editor, Popular Mechanics Magazine, volume 74, number 2, Chicago, Ill.: Popular Mechanics Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 119A, column 1:

These rocket scientists constitute a valuable nucleus for carrying the peacetime development programs of the Army and Navy.

1946, Joint Board on Scientific Information Policy for Office of Scientific Research and Development, War Department, Navy Department, “Specialized Uses of Rockets”, in U.S. Rocket Ordnance: Development and Use in World War II, [Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 56:

"There was hardly a German sufficiently competent to talk about the V-2 and other big stuff," Grigory Tokady, a Russian rocket scientist sent to investigate immediately after the German defeat, later revealed.

2006, Gerard J. Degroot, “What are We Waiting for?”, in Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest, New York, N.Y., London: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 29:

When a rocket scientist does a sanity test, he's pinching himself back into reality and asking if what he has done adds up. […] By writing equations and sorting the symbols by the rules of algebra, the rocket scientist can predict how high and how fast the rocket will go and when it will get to its destination, which could be as far away as Pluto—4 billion miles from the sun.

2007, James Longuski, “Do a Sanity Test”, in The Seven Secrets of How to Think Like a Rocket Scientist, New York, N.Y.: Copernicus Books, Springer Science+Business Media, →ISBN, part IV (Check), page 73:

By the 1940s, his work in this area was so advanced that German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun remarked that "[Robert Hutchings] Goddard's experiments in liquid fuel saved us years of work, and enabled us to perfect the V-2 years before it would have been possible."

2013, Steven [James] Lambakis, “In Space is Our Trust: How and Why Does Space Impact the United States?”, in On the Edge of Earth: The Future of American Space Power, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, part 1 (The Vital Force), page 9:


biophysicist

A biologist or physicist whose speciality is biophysics.

բիոֆիզիկոս

a biologist or physicist whose speciality is biophysics


geophysicist

Yevgeny K. Fedorov, one of the Soviet Union's leading geophysicists, died Wednesday, Tass, the official press agency, reported today. He was 71 years old.

1982 January 3, Reuters, “YEVGENY FEDOROV, AGED 71; A MAJOR SOVIET GEOPHYSICIST”, in The New York Times:

“The lack of an agreement to phase out fossil fuels was devastating,” said Prof Michael Mann, a climatologist and geophysicist at the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

2023 December 14, Damian Carrington, quoting Michael E. Mann, “Failure of Cop28 on fossil fuel phase-out is ‘devastating’, say scientists”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(geology, physics) A physicist who specialises in geophysics.


radiochemist

A chemist who specializes in radiochemistry


electrochemist

A person who studies or is expert in electrochemistry.


radiophysicist

A physicist whose specialty is radiophysics.


radiobiologist

One who studies or carries out radiobiology.


theoretical physicist

theoretical physicist (plural theoretical physicists)

(physics, profession) A scientist who studies theoretical physics; using math and other abstract analysis rather than practical experimentation.


fissionist

A scientist who works on nuclear fission.


condensed matter physicist

condensed matter physicist (plural condensed matter physicists)

condensed matter physics
condensed matter physics

person specializing in condensed matter physics


nuclear physicist

nuclear physicist (plural nuclear physicists)

Certainly it would be better if he were a nuclear physicist. On the other hand, I believe that a team of that sort would give stronger support to industrial work than a team of four nuclear engineers.

1962, United States Atomic Energy Commission, Proceedings of the Conference on Progress in Nuclear Education Held at Gatlinburg, Tennessee, August 20-22, 1962, page 184:

Explaining the history is a nuclear physicist who is also an accomplished writer.

1982, Boyd Norton, "The Early Years" in, Nuclear Power, Both Sides: The Best Arguments for and Against the Most Controversial Technology, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 15:

And Theodore Taylor, the nuclear physicist who designed America's smallest and largest atomic bombs, has repeatedly stated that given fissile material, building a bomb is "very easy. Double underline. Very easy."

2004, Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 93: