Difference between revisions of "Scientist"
(→Science and Christianity: The liberal fringe theories were already mentioned.) |
(irrelevant, uncited fact, most likely added as vandalism.) |
||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
== Science and Christianity == | == Science and Christianity == | ||
| − | Many scientists have been devout Christians or held a belief in God ([[Isaac Newton]]<ref> http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/newtlife.html</ref> or monk Gregor Mendel<ref>http://www.adherents.com/people/pm/Gregor_Mendel.html</ref>). Modern science has become increasingly [[atheism|atheistic]],<ref>http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/atheism1.htm</ref> rejecting God and his works in explanations of the world and all of human experience. Instead readily embracing [[liberal logic]] and pseudo or [[junk science]] such as [[Counterexamples to Evolution|evolution]], [[Counterexamples to Relativity|relativity]], [[global warming]] and much of [[cosmology]] and [[geology]] based on a [[Counterexamples to an Old Earth|time frame]] which predates [[creation]]. Consequently the rigid [[logic]] of [[creation science]] is gaining in importance, enabling intelligent people to distinguish real science from atheistic secular junk science. A 1998 study indicates that among U. S. scientists belief in God has declined between 1914 and 1998, with 7% believing, 72.2% disbelieving, and 20.8% professing doubt or agnosticism.<ref>http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file002.html</ref> | + | Many scientists have been devout Christians or held a belief in God ([[Isaac Newton]]<ref> http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/newtlife.html</ref> or monk Gregor Mendel<ref>http://www.adherents.com/people/pm/Gregor_Mendel.html</ref>). Modern science has become increasingly [[atheism|atheistic]],<ref>http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/atheism1.htm</ref> rejecting God and his works in explanations of the world and all of human experience. Instead readily embracing [[liberal logic]] and pseudo or [[junk science]] such as [[Counterexamples to Evolution|evolution]], [[Counterexamples to Relativity|relativity]], [[global warming]] and much of [[cosmology]] and [[geology]] based on a [[Counterexamples to an Old Earth|time frame]] which predates [[creation]]. Consequently the rigid [[logic]] of [[creation science]] is gaining in importance, enabling intelligent people to distinguish real science from atheistic secular junk science. A 1998 study indicates that among U. S. scientists belief in God has declined between 1914 and 1998, with 7% believing, 72.2% disbelieving, and 20.8% professing doubt or agnosticism.<ref>http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file002.html</ref> |
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 21:48, November 9, 2011
A scientist is someone who practices science.
Scope of term
Depending on the context, the term "scientist" might refer to anyone using the scientific method or anyone with a qualification in a field of science. In most cases, both will be true, but in other cases only one or the other may be true.
Origin of term
The invention of the word scientist is often credited to William Whewell (1794-1866), who was himself a scientist as well as a moral philosopher and Anglican priest. In 1858, he wrote:
- As we cannot use physician for a cultivator of physics, I have referred to him as a Physicist.
- We need very much[sic] a name to describe a cultivator of science in general. I should incline to call him a Scientist. Thus we might say that as an Artist is a Musician, Painter, or Poet, a Scientist is a Mathematician, Physicist, or Naturalist.[1]
Prior to this, scientists were usually called "natural philosophers" or "natural historians." (The oldest scientific journal in the world, established in 1665, is entitled Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Among its early numbers are letters from Leeuwenhoek describing his discovery of microorganisms).
Science and Christianity
Many scientists have been devout Christians or held a belief in God (Isaac Newton[2] or monk Gregor Mendel[3]). Modern science has become increasingly atheistic,[4] rejecting God and his works in explanations of the world and all of human experience. Instead readily embracing liberal logic and pseudo or junk science such as evolution, relativity, global warming and much of cosmology and geology based on a time frame which predates creation. Consequently the rigid logic of creation science is gaining in importance, enabling intelligent people to distinguish real science from atheistic secular junk science. A 1998 study indicates that among U. S. scientists belief in God has declined between 1914 and 1998, with 7% believing, 72.2% disbelieving, and 20.8% professing doubt or agnosticism.[5]
References
- ↑ Whewell, William (1858), Novum Organon Renovatum: Being the second part of the philosophy of the inductive sciences, J. W. Parker and Son, p. 338
- ↑ http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/newtlife.html
- ↑ http://www.adherents.com/people/pm/Gregor_Mendel.html
- ↑ http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/atheism1.htm
- ↑ http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file002.html