Editing Scientist (section)

{{short description|Person who conducts scientific research}}
{{About|the profession|other uses|Scientist (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Scientologist}}
{{Infobox occupation
| name           = Scientist
| image          = Pierre and Marie Curie.jpg
| caption        = [[Pierre Curie]] and [[Marie Curie]] demonstrating an apparatus that detects [[radioactivity]]. They received the 1903 [[Nobel Prize]] in Physics for their scientific research; Marie also received the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
| official_names = Scientist
<!------------Details------------------->
| type               = [[Profession]]
| activity_sector    = [[Laboratory]], [[research university]], [[field research]]
| competencies       = [[Research#Scientific research|Scientific research]]
| formation          = [[Science]]
| employment_field   = [[Academy|Academia]], [[Private industry|industry]], [[Government scientist|government]], [[Nonprofit organization|nonprofit]]
| related_occupation = [[Engineer]]s
}}
{{Science|expanded=Overview}}
A '''scientist''' is a person who [[Scientific method|researches]] to advance knowledge in an [[Branches of science|area]] of the [[natural science]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=scientist |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/scientist |website=Cambridge Dictionary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=science |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/science |website=Cambridge Dictionary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref><ref name = "eowilsonfoundation">{{cite web | url = https://eowilsonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/the-big-read-eusocial-climbers.pdf | title = Eusocial climbers | publisher = E.O. Wilson Foundation | access-date = 3 September 2018 | quote = But he’s not a scientist, he’s never done scientific research. My definition of a scientist is that you can complete the following sentence: ‘he or she has shown that...’,” Wilson says. | archive-date = 27 April 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190427085753/https://eowilsonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/the-big-read-eusocial-climbers.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name = "researchcouncil">{{cite web | url = https://sciencecouncil.org/about-science/our-definition-of-a-scientist/ | title = Our definition of a scientist | publisher = Science Council | access-date = 7 September 2018 | quote = A scientist is someone who systematically gathers and uses research and evidence, making a hypothesis and testing it, to gain and share understanding and knowledge.}}</ref>

In [[classical antiquity]], there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, [[philosopher]]s engaged in the philosophical study of nature called [[natural philosophy]], a precursor of [[natural science]].<ref name="Lehoux">{{cite book|last1=Lehoux|first1=Daryn|editor1-last=Shank|editor1-first=Michael|editor2-last=Numbers|editor2-first=Ronald|editor3-last=Harrison|editor3-first=Peter|title=Wrestling with Nature : From Omens to Science|date=2011|publisher=University of Chicago, U.S.A. Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0226317830|page=39|chapter=2. Natural Knowledge in the Classical World}}</ref> 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,<ref>[[Aristotle]], Metaphysics Alpha, 983b18.</ref><ref name="CPM">{{cite DGRBM |title=Thales |year=1870 |url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofgree03smituoft#page/1016  |page=1016}}</ref><ref>Michael Fowler, [http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/thales.html Early Greek Science: Thales to Plato], University of Virginia [Retrieved 2016-06-16]</ref><ref name="books.google.com">Frank N. Magill, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_CMl8ziTbKYC&pg=PA1121 ''The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography'', Volume 1], Routledge, 2003 {{isbn|1135457395}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Singer |first=C. |title=A Short History of Science to the 19th century |publisher=Streeter Press |year=2008 |page=35 }}<!--(copied from [[Thales]]--></ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Needham |first=C. W. |title=Cerebral Logic: Solving the Problem of Mind and Brain |publisher=Loose Leaf |year=1978 |page=75 |isbn=978-0-398-03754-3}}<!--(copied from [[Thales]]--></ref> it was not until the [[19th century in science|19th century]] that the term ''scientist'' came into regular use after it was coined by the [[theologian]], [[philosopher]], and historian of science [[William Whewell]] in 1833.<ref name="Cahan Natural Philosophy">{{cite book | editor1-last=Cahan | editor1-first=David | title=From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century Science | date=2003 | publisher=University of Chicago Press | location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=0-226-08928-2}}</ref><ref name = "Lightman2011">{{cite book|last1=Lightman|first1=Bernard|editor1-last=Shank|editor1-first=Michael|editor2-last=Numbers|editor2-first=Ronald|editor3-last=Harrison|editor3-first=Peter|title=Wrestling with Nature : From Omens to Science|date=2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0226317830|page=367|chapter = Science and the Public}}</ref>