Who is a scientist?

Question

I have a friend who has a Ph.d in engineering, and he works at one of the national labs. Is he a scientist?

Answer 1

Generally, a scientist is a person who makes a living working in one of the scientific disciplines.  This normally implies having a degree in one of the sciences.  (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, or one of the fields derived from those; for example, microbiology.)

Most scientists are engaged in research, rather than design and development.  Engineering is defined as the practical application of scientific principles.  So most people consider science and engineering to be separate worlds.  But in a sense, an engineer is a scientist because the engineer uses scientific principles.

Usually an engineer who works in a scientific lab would be considered a "research engineer," or an "engineering scientist."  So there is some flexibility in naming the disciplines.  If his PhD is genuine, he can call himself either, to most people.

Answer 2

in my opinion scientist is a man or woman who in addition to work science , represent a new idea about scientific problem , to solve a problem .

Answer 3

i have a cousin who is also a Ph.d in engineering but he is only interested in higher salary jobs. he is not scientist for sure. but your friend works in a lab maybe he is .......

Answer 4

This question reminds me of a portion of the Physics of Super Heroes book that I read. In one comic book Superman faced off against and evil ex-scientist. I found this very funny as there is not some Grand Science Council you need to beg to to become a scientist, as the book pointed out. A scientist is any old s*****k that follows the scientific method. There is no degree you get saying "I'm a scientist!" or anything.