Correction of "Physicist" in OED

Stephen Goranson goranson at DUKE.EDU
Thu Aug 9 10:05:00 UTC 2007


Quoting Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>:

> The 1838 first use for _physicist_ in the 2006 revision of the OED is
> dated erroneously.  It should be dated 1853, so that the 1840 usage by
> William Whewell is still the earliest known usage.

A 1837 use--apparently; I haven't seen a paper copy, but the google books full
view scan including the title page and a NY Public Library stamp appears to
match NYPL cataloging:

Henrietta Temple: A Love Story By Benjamin Disraëli (Paris: Baudry's European
Library, 1837) p. 39.

"...yet Dr. Garnet, a chemist and physicist of some note in his day, who
travelled in the Highlands in 1798, repeats and adopts Pennant's statement of
the volcanic origin of the hill...."

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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