physicist
/ˈfɪzɪsɪst/ noun
Forms physicists
- noun A person whose occupation specializes in the science of physics, especially at a professional level.
- noun (archaic) A believer in the theory that the fundamental phenomena of life are to be explained upon purely chemical and physical principles (opposed to vitalist).
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “physicist”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details