IV. Read the text and find English equivalents to the following Russian words and word combinations.

1) в широком смысле

2) проводить научные исследования

3) деятельность, отличная от других

4) разрабатывать новую технологию

5) практическая польза

6) предсказывать результаты

7) применять научные знания

8) испытывать модели

9) существующие данные

10) заниматься систематической деятельностью

V. Speak about scientists using these prompts:

– to acquire knowledge

– to use scientific method

– to perform / conduct research

– comprehensive understanding of nature

– an applied scientist

– to develop new technology

– to explain existing data

– to predict new results

– theoreticians and experimentalists

– a strong curiosity about reality

– to apply scientific knowledge

VI. Surf the Internet and find new information about famous scientists who made great discoveries in the field of science you are conducting your research.

Text G

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND ETYMOLOGY OF THE TERM «SCIENTIST»

Read the text about historical development and etymology of the word «scientists» and find answers to the following questions.

1. Who proposed the new term «scientist»?

2. When did the term «scientist» appear?

3. Give the definition of the term « scientist».

4. What qualities and abilities should scientists have?

5. When did the term «scientist» become common in the USA and Great Britain?

6. Who made great contribution to our understanding of science and natural philosophy?

7. When was the word « scientist» recognized as a profession?

8. How was knowledge divided by the time of medieval University system?

9. What famous scientists do you know who made great discoveries in the field of science you are doing your research?

Social roles that partly correspond with the modern scientist can be identified going back at least until 17th century natural philosophy, but the term scientist is much more recent. Until the late 19th or early 20th century, those who pursued science were called «natural philosophers» or «men of science». English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell coined the term scientist in 1833. Whewell's suggestion of the term was partly satirical, a response to changing conceptions of science itself in which natural knowledge was increasingly seen as distinct from other forms of knowledge. The broad term «philosopher» was no longer satisfactory to group together those who pursued science. Whewell reported in his review that «some ingenious gentleman» proposed that, by analogy with artist, they might form [the word] scientist. Scientists are the people who ask a question about a phenomenon and proceed to systematically go about answering the question themselves. They are by nature curious, creative and well organized. They need to have the ability to observe something and see in it some of the properties other people overlook. Whewell proposed the word again more seriously (and not anonymously) in 1840.

He also proposed the term physicist at the same time, as a counterpart to the French word physicien. Scientist became a common term in the late 19th century in the United States and around the turn of the 20th century in Great Britain. By the twentieth century, the modern notion of science as a special brand of information about the world, practiced by a distinct group and pursued through a unique method, was essentially in place. «No one in the history of civilization has shaped our understanding of science and natural philosophy more than the great Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle (384-322 BC), who exerted a great influence for more than two thousand years» – Gary B. Ferngren.

The social roles of «scientists», and their predecessors before the emergence of modern scientific disciplines, have evolved considerably over time. Scientists of different eras (and before them, natural philosophers, mathematicians, natural historians, natural theologians, engineers, and other who contributed to the development of science) have had widely different places in society, and the social norms, ethical values, and epistemic virtues associated with scientists – and expected of them – have changed over time as well. Accordingly, many different historical figures can be identified as early scientists, depending on which elements of modern science are taken to be essential. Some historians point to the 17th century as the period when science in a recognizably modern form developed (what is popularly called the Scientific Revolution), and hence is when the first people who can be considered scientists are to be found. If the category of «scientist» is limited to those who do scientific research as a profession, then the social role of scientist essentially emerged in the 19th century as part of the professionalization of science.