Scientist

A scientist is an expert in at least one area of science who uses the scientific method to do research. William Whewell coined the word in 1833 at the request of the poet Coleridge. Before that scientists were termed "natural philosophers" or "men of science".Scientists are motivated by a desire to understand why the world is as we see it and how it came to be, often from childhood. They exhibit unrelenting curiosity about Nature. Prestige, reputation, and recognition by their peers are often much more important to scientists than wealth. Science and technology have continually modified human existence, and the activity of scientists is today widely known.

There are notable examples of people who have moved back and forth among disciplines. A number of scientists have been priests, including the astronomer and physician Copernicus; and Gregor Mendel, whose discoveries on inheritance founded modern genetics, which provides a mechanism to explain Charles Darwin's observations about evolution.