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William Whewell Coins the Term "Scientist"

1833
Painting of William Whewell. Trinity College, Cambridge.
Painting of William Whewell. Trinity College, Cambridge.

English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge William Whewell, one of the first historians of science, coined the term scientist to describe an expert in the study of nature.

When Whewell coined the word people we now call scientists were often called "natural philosophers."  The term scientist did not gain wide acceptance until the end of the ninteenth century.

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