Library / English Dictionary

PHYSICIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A scientist trained in physics

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("physicist" is a kind of...):

scientist (a person with advanced knowledge of one or more sciences)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "physicist"):

acoustician (a physicist who specializes in acoustics)

astronomer; stargazer; uranologist (a physicist who studies astronomy)

biophysicist (a physicist who applies the methods of physics to biology)

nuclear physicist (a physicist who specializes in nuclear physics)

Charles Hard Townes; Charles Townes; Townes (United States physicist who developed the laser and maser principles for producing high-intensity radiation (1915-))

Instance hyponyms:

John William Strutt; Lord Rayleigh; Rayleigh; Third Baron Rayleigh (English physicist who studied the density of gases and discovered argon; made important contributions to acoustic theory (1842-1919))

Aleksandr Mikjailovich Prokhorov; Aleksandr Prokhorov; Prokhorov (Russian physicist whose research into ways of moving electrons around atoms led to the development of masers and lasers for producing high-intensity radiation (1916-2002))

Cecil Frank Powell; Powell (English physicist who discovered the pion (the first known meson) which is a subatomic particle involved in holding the nucleus together (1903-1969))

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck; Max Planck; Planck (German physicist whose explanation of blackbody radiation in the context of quantized energy emissions initiated quantum theory (1858-1947))

Henri Pitot; Pitot (French physicist for whom the Pitot tube was named (1695-1771))

Georg Simon Ohm; Ohm (German physicist who formulated Ohm's law (1787-1854))

Hans Christian Oersted; Oersted (Danish physicist (1777-1851))

Isaac Newton; Newton; Sir Isaac Newton (English mathematician and physicist; remembered for developing the calculus and for his law of gravitation and his three laws of motion (1642-1727))

Nernst; Walther Hermann Nernst (German physicist and chemist who formulated the third law of thermodynamics (1864-1941))

Louis Eugene Felix Neel; Neel (French physicist noted for research on magnetism (born in 1904))

Millikan; Robert Andrews Millikan (United States physicist who isolated the electron and measured its charge (1868-1953))

A. A. Michelson; Albert Abraham Michelson; Albert Michelson; Michelson (United States physicist (born in Germany) who collaborated with Morley in the Michelson-Morley experiment (1852-1931))

Fritz W. Meissner; Meissner (German physicist (1882-1974))

J. C. Maxwell; James Clerk Maxwell; Maxwell (Scottish physicist whose equations unified electricity and magnetism and who recognized the electromagnetic nature of light (1831-1879))

Ernst Mach; Mach (Austrian physicist and philosopher who introduced the Mach number and who founded logical positivism (1838-1916))

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz; Lorentz (Dutch physicist noted for work on electromagnetic theory (1853-1928))

Lodge; Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge; Sir Oliver Lodge (English physicist who studied electromagnetic radiation and was a pioneer of radiotelegraphy (1851-1940))

Gabriel Lippmann; Lippmann (French physicist who developed the first color photographic process (1845-1921))

Lenard; Philipp Lenard (German physicist who studied cathode rays (1862-1947))

Landau; Lev Davidovich Landau (Soviet physicist who worked on low temperature physics (1908-1968))

G. R. Kirchhoff; Gustav Robert Kirchhoff; Kirchhoff (German physicist who with Bunsen pioneered spectrum analysis and formulated two laws governing electric networks (1824-1887))

First Baron Kelvin; Kelvin; William Thompson (British physicist who invented the Kelvin scale of temperature and pioneered undersea telegraphy (1824-1907))

Vladimir Kosma Zworykin; Zworykin (United States physicist who invented the iconoscope (1889-1982))

Pieter Zeeman; Zeeman (Dutch physicist honored for his research on the influence of magnetism on radiation which showed that light is radiated by the motion of charged particles in an atom (1865-1943))

Thomas Young; Young (British physicist and Egyptologist; he revived the wave theory of light and proposed a three-component theory of color vision; he also played an important role in deciphering the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone (1773-1829))

Chen N. Yang; Yang Chen Ning (United States physicist (born in China) who collaborated with Tsung Dao Lee in disproving the principle of conservation of parity (born in 1922))

William Hyde Wollaston; Wollaston (English chemist and physicist who discovered palladium and rhodium and demonstrated that static and current electricity are the same (1766-1828))

Robert Woodrow Wilson; Wilson (United States physicist honored for his work on cosmic microwave radiation (born in 1918))

Sir Charles Wheatstone; Wheatstone (English physicist and inventor who devised the Wheatstone bridge (1802-1875))

Steven Weinberg; Weinberg (United States theoretical physicist (born in 1933))

Weber; Wilhelm Eduard Weber (German physicist and brother of E. H. Weber; noted for his studies of terrestrial magnetism (1804-1891))

Conte Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta; Conte Alessandro Volta; Count Alessandro Volta; Volta (Italian physicist after whom the volt is named; studied electric currents and invented the voltaic pile (1745-1827))

John Hasbrouck Van Vleck; John Van Vleck; Van Vleck (United States physicist (1899-1980))

Johannes Diderik van der Waals; Johannes van der Waals; van der Waals (Dutch physicist (1837-1923))

Robert Jemison Van de Graaff; Robert Van de Graaff; Van de Graaff (United States physicist (1901-1967))

James Alfred Van Allen; Van Allen (United States physicist who discovered two belts of charged particles from the solar wind trapped by the Earth's magnetic field (born in 1914))

John Tyndall; Tyndall (British physicist (born in Ireland) remembered for his experiments on the transparency of gases and the absorption of radiant heat by gases and the transmission of sound through the atmosphere; he was the first person to explain why the daylight sky is blue (1820-1893))

Evangelista Torricelli; Torricelli (Italian physicist who invented the mercury barometer (1608-1647))

George Paget Thomson; Sir George Paget Thomson; Thomson (English physicist (son of Joseph John Thomson) who was a co-discoverer of the diffraction of electrons by crystals (1892-1975))

Joseph John Thomson; Sir Joseph John Thomson; Thomson (English physicist who experimented with the conduction of electricity through gases and who discovered the electron and determined its charge and mass (1856-1940))

Benjamin Thompson; Count Rumford; Thompson (English physicist (born in America) who studied heat and friction; experiments convinced him that heat is caused by moving particles (1753-1814))

Shockley; William Bradford Shockley; William Shockley (United States physicist (born in England) who contributed to the development of the electronic transistor (1910-1989))

Ernest Rutherford; First Baron Rutherford; First Baron Rutherford of Nelson; Rutherford (British physicist (born in New Zealand) who discovered the atomic nucleus and proposed a nuclear model of the atom (1871-1937))

Roentgen; Rontgen; Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen; Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen (German physicist who discovered x-rays and developed roentgenography (1845-1923))

Reaumur; Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur (French physicist who invented the alcohol thermometer (1683-1757))

Fahrenheit; Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (German physicist who invented the mercury thermometer and developed the scale of temperature that bears his name (1686-1736))

Esaki; Leo Esaki (physicist honored for advances in solid state electronics (born in Japan in 1925))

Albert Einstein; Einstein (physicist born in Germany who formulated the special theory of relativity and the general theory of relativity; Einstein also proposed that light consists of discrete quantized bundles of energy (later called photons) (1879-1955))

Christian Johann Doppler; Doppler (Austrian physicist famous for his discovery of the Doppler effect (1803-1853))

Dewar; Sir James Dewar (Scottish chemist and physicist noted for his work in cryogenics and his invention of the Dewar flask (1842-1923))

Dalton; John Dalton (English chemist and physicist who formulated atomic theory and the law of partial pressures; gave the first description of red-green color blindness (1766-1844))

Curie; Pierre Curie (French physicist; husband of Marie Curie (1859-1906))

Crookes; Sir William Crookes; William Crookes (English chemist and physicist; discovered thallium; invented the radiometer and studied cathode rays (1832-1919))

Charles Augustin de Coulomb; Coulomb (French physicist famous for his discoveries in the field of electricity and magnetism; formulated Coulomb's Law (1736-1806))

Charles; Jacques Alexandre Cesar Charles; Jacques Charles (French physicist and author of Charles's law which anticipated Gay-Lussac's law (1746-1823))

Cavendish; Henry Cavendish (British chemist and physicist who established that water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen and who calculated the density of the earth (1731-1810))

Carnot; Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot; Sadi Carnot (French physicist who founded thermodynamics (1796-1832))

Bertram Brockhouse; Brockhouse (Canadian physicist who bounced neutron beams off of atomic nuclei to study the structure of matter (1918-2003))

Boltzmann; Ludwig Boltzmann (Austrian physicist who contributed to the kinetic theory of gases (1844-1906))

Bernoulli; Daniel Bernoulli (Swiss physicist who contributed to hydrodynamics and mathematical physics (1700-1782))

Antoine Henri Becquerel; Becquerel; Henri Becquerel (French physicist who discovered that rays emitted by uranium salts affect photographic plates (1852-1908))

Bardeen; John Bardeen (United States physicist who won the Nobel prize for physics twice (1908-1991))

Amedeo Avogadro; Avogadro (Italian physicist noted for his work on gases; proposed what has come to be called Avogadro's law (1776-1856))

Arrhenius; Svante August Arrhenius (Swedish chemist and physicist noted for his theory of chemical dissociation (1859-1927))

Archimedes (Greek mathematician and physicist noted for his work in hydrostatics and mechanics and geometry (287-212 BC))

Appleton; Edward Appleton; Sir Edward Victor Appleton (English physicist remembered for his studies of the ionosphere (1892-1966))

Anderson; Phil Anderson; Philip Anderson; Philip Warren Anderson (United States physicist who studied the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems (1923-))

Al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham; al-Haytham; Alhacen; Alhazen; Ibn al-Haytham (an Egyptian polymath (born in Iraq) whose research in geometry and optics was influential into the 17th century; established experiments as the norm of proof in physics (died in 1040))

Alfred Kastler; Kastler (French physicist (1902-1984))

James Prescott Joule; Joule (English physicist who established the mechanical theory of heat and discovered the first law of thermodynamics (1818-1889))

Irene Joliot-Curie; Joliot-Curie (French physicist who (with her husband) synthesized new chemical elements (1897-1956))

Jean-Frederic Joliot; Jean-Frederic Joliot-Curie; Joliot; Joliot-Curie (French nuclear physicist who was Marie Curie's assistant and who worked with Marie Curie's daughter who he married (taking the name Joliot-Curie); he and his wife discovered how to synthesize new radioactive elements (1900-1958))

Christiaan Huygens; Christian Huygens; Huygens (Dutch physicist who first formulated the wave theory of light (1629-1695))

Hess; Victor Franz Hess; Victor Hess (United States physicist (born in Austria) who was a discoverer of cosmic radiation (1883-1964))

Heinrich Hertz; Heinrich Rudolph Hertz; Hertz (German physicist who was the first to produce electromagnetic waves artificially (1857-1894))

Henry; Joseph Henry (United States physicist who studied electromagnetic phenomena (1791-1878))

Baron Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz; Helmholtz; Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz; Hermann von Helmholtz (German physiologist and physicist (1821-1894))

Heaviside; Oliver Heaviside (English physicist and electrical engineer who helped develop telegraphic and telephonic communications; in 1902 (independent of A. E. Kennelly) he suggested the existence of an atmospheric layer that reflects radio waves back to earth (1850-1925))

Hawking; Stephen Hawking; Stephen William Hawking (English theoretical physicist (born in 1942))

Goddard; Robert Hutchings Goddard (United States physicist who developed the first successful liquid-fueled rocket (1882-1945))

Gilbert; William Gilbert (English court physician noted for his studies of terrestrial magnetism (1540-1603))

Geiger; Hans Geiger (German physicist who developed the Geiger counter (1882-1945))

Gay-Lussac; Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (French chemist and physicist who first isolated boron and who formulated the law describing the behavior of gases under constant pressure (1778-1850))

Gamow; George Gamow (United States physicist (born in Russia) who was a proponent of the big-bang theory and who did research in radioactivity and suggested the triplet code for DNA (1904-1968))

Dennis Gabor; Gabor (British physicist (born in Hungary) noted for his work on holography (1900-1979))

Emil Klaus Julius Fuchs; Fuchs; Klaus Fuchs (British physicist who was born in Germany and fled Nazi persecution; in the 1940s he passed secret information to the USSR about the development of the atom bomb in the United States (1911-1988))

Augustin Jean Fresnel; Fresnel (French physicist who invented polarized light and invented the Fresnel lens (1788-1827))

Franck; James Franck (United States physicist (born in Germany) who with Gustav Hertz performed an electron scattering experiment that proved the existence of the stationary energy states postulated by Niels Bohr (1882-1964))

Baron Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier; Fourier; Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (French mathematician who developed Fourier analysis and studied the conduction of heat (1768-1830))

Foucault; Jean Bernard Leon Foucault (French physicist who determined the speed of light and showed that it travels slower in water than in air; invented the Foucault pendulum and the gyroscope (1819-1868))

Fechner; Gustav Theodor Fechner (German physicist who founded psychophysics; derived Fechner's law on the basis of early work by E. H. Weber (1801-1887))

Faraday; Michael Faraday (the English physicist and chemist who discovered electromagnetic induction (1791-1867))

Derivation:

physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The scientists, led by Eun-Hwa Kim, a physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, examined a type of wave that travels through the magnetosphere.

(Scientists deepen understanding of magnetic fields that surround Earth, National Science Foundation)

A professional society of physicians who limit their practice to radiation oncology, physicians currently enrolled in a fellowship program and radiation oncology physicists in all types of practices.

(American College of Radiation Oncology, NCI Thesaurus)

"The findings show that stacking 2D materials together in close proximity generates entirely new physics," said Jia Li, a physicist at Brown University.

(Research reveals exotic quantum states in double-layer graphene, National Science Foundation)

Mars used to be a wet planet with a thick atmosphere, said Gina DiBraccio, space physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and project scientist for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN mission.

(The ice giant Uranus appears to be losing a bit of its atmosphere to space, NASA)

A thermometric scale named after the German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit, on which under standard atmospheric pressure the boiling point of water is at 212 degrees above the zero of the scale, the freezing point is at 32 degrees above zero, and the zero point approximates the temperature produced by mixing equal quantities by weight of snow and common salt.

(Fahrenheit Scale, NCI Thesaurus)