[Ads-l] Further Antedating of "Physicist"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Let me try again.  It was 2010 when I antedated "physicist," not 2020.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2023 4:15 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Further Antedating of "Physicist"

Typo: It was 2010 when I antedated "physicist," not 2010.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2023 4:13 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Further Antedating of "Physicist"

The great polymath and neologist William Whewell, who coined the word "scientist," was also long credited with coining "physicist" in 1840.  In 2020 I found an 1838 occurrence of "physicist," which was then surpassed by Garson O'Toole's discovery of an 1837 citation.  Here is a further antedating:

physicist (OED, 2., 1837)

1825 Granville Penn _Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies (ed. 2) 1: lxxiv (Google Books)

If this Reviewer has been led to judge, that any of the modern physicists have transcended Newton by their _discoveries_ ... I envy not his judgment.

Fred Shapiro

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