Name of a scientist who introduced many words into English?

[fluidistic]

I remember having read about a scientist (I think a physicist) who introduced many scientific terms into the English language. I can't remember his name! Can someone try to guess him?

It wasn't Faraday, who apparently coined the terms "anode", "cathode", "electrode" and "ion".
There were more words than that.

 

[fresh_42]

Apparently wasn't Farraday himself:

"In his research on electricity, Michael Faraday was dissatisfied with the terms he used to describe chemical decompositions under the influence of electric current. He therefore turned in early 1834, inter alia, to William Whewell. He suggested next to others also the designations ion, cation and anion; since then they have been used by Faraday." (Wikipedia)

 

[Klystron]

[...snip...]early 1834, inter alia, to William Whewell. He suggested next to others also the designations ion, cation and anion; since then they have been used by Faraday." (Wikipedia)

Confirmation: "...Anode and cathode ... words that were coined by William Whewell at Faraday's request."

And Whewell, naturally, derived and borrowed many terms from predecessors such as William Gilbert including the term electricity. [Credit @Mister T for mentioning Gilbert in reply to a different thread asking who invented terms for magnetism.]

Keeping in mind that scientists were referred to as philosophers before Whewell coined the term; no list of early science wordsmiths would be complete without Erasmus of Rotterdam, close friends with equally prolific English word creator Thomas More.

 

[BillTre]

Shakespeare is probably considered the king of introducing new words to English, but of course, not a scientist.

I was expecting to find that Charles Darwin introduced a lot of words into English, but his impact is much more limited than I expected.
Among the most important words he introduced is natural selection (actually two words), but not Evolution (the changing of life forms over time, but not necessarily as driven by natural selection), which some say was introduced by his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin.
Erasmus Darwin (who had wide ranging interests in Biology, Geology, Chemistry, and Poetry) also introduced a https://www.jstor.org/stable/4330817:
Many in botany due to translating Linneus's publications into English:

The System of Vegetables begins with a table defining 674 botanic terms, which are the basis of the vocabulary used throughout the book.

Darwin’s new vocabulary was ingenious and necessary...

All the new words are, of course, botanical, but some are in general use, like bract, floret, leaflet, stemless and vernation; also the plurals anthers and stamens were, it seems, previously written as antherae and stamina. Most of the new words are fairly obscure to non-botanists; however, half of them are in wide enough use to appear in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1976 edition), and these include ament, aril, axillary, cyme, flosculous, glume, pome, raceme, spathe, stipe and verticil—the full list is given in a note (45).

He also came up with several words used for poetic purposes.

He was also important in the popularization of several chemical words (borrowed directly from French) in the English language.

Others who may have introduced significant numbers of new words to English might be found in situations where a new field was being opened up for the first time, such as molecular biology (Watson and/or Crick? or others?), or in the description of new previously unknown features of nature (anatomy, astronomy?, and ?).

 

[fluidistic]

I finally found the scientist! It is James Thomson, the older brother of the famous Lord Kelvin.

That man created the words radian, interface, torque and the term "triple point" of thermodynamics. He created a lot more words that unfortunately were not used and so are not part of our language.

I think we need to invent many more scientific words. This would allow to communicate ideas in short sentences as opposed to lengthy jargonic sentences.

 

[fresh_42]

I think we need to invent many more scientific words. This would allow to communicate ideas in short sentences as opposed to lengthy jargonic sentences.

... didn't work in mathematics.

 

[BillTre]

I think we need to invent many more scientific words. This would allow to communicate ideas in short sentences as opposed to lengthy jargonic sentences.

Scientific words are jargon:

Definition of jargon
1 : the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group sports jargon
2 : obscure and often pretentious language marked by circumlocutions and long words an academic essay filled with jargon

As such, they are difficult for those outside of the group in which they were used to understand.
So for communication with a specialized group jargon (that is commonly understood in that group) would be useful for communicating, but not for those outside that group.

 

[Klystron]

I finally found the scientist! It is James Thomson, the older brother of the famous Lord Kelvin.

That man created the words radian, interface, torque and the term "triple point" of thermodynamics. He created a lot more words that unfortunately were not used and so are not part of our language...[snip]...

Good catch! This thread has been tickling my memory. Your post also brings to mind examples of a famous sibling overshadowing a relative. Vincent and Theo van Gogh come to mind. While Theo was well known among contemporary art dealers, his brother was obscure aside from a few fellow painters. Theo not only popularized Vincent's paintings, his skills as a salesman (and Vincent's immense talent IMO) eventually led to extraordinary values for the paintings. Perhaps a similar zeitgeist existed with the Thomson siblings.

While I applaud and support searching for word origins, one must be cautious of overreach. Even if an author publishes the apparent first use of a term, "creation" cuts a bold swath. Cautious etymologists use verbs such as 'derived' , 'popularized', 'collected', 'introduced' (my favorite) in written English. For a modern example of creative doubt look at the lawsuits brought against popular author J.K.Rowling.

One must also remember that English spelling was only standardized within the lifetimes of some of your current readers (!). English includes so many words from so many different languages, exact origins can be nebulous. For instance 'torque' in English derives from Latin words for 'twist': torque, torquent. What word did Isaac Newton use for twist in his Latin publications?

 

[gmax137]

Many in botany due to translating Linneus's publications into English:

Sorry for a little tangent, but this reminds me of a dictionary entry, a friend showed me this years ago (back when dictionaries were printed):

fascicle:
1a: an inflorescence consisting of a compacted cyme less capitate than a glomerule

Today I was able to find it here:
http://www.sonic.net/bristlecone/words/fascicle.html

Couldn't say it more plainly, "jargon."

 

[epenguin]

Not the one you were thinking of but I believe Paracelsus invented a number of terms, most of which did not catch on or survive. The only one I remember is "Zinc" which certainly survives. At any rate the first known use of the word is in his writings, and I thought, my memory was, he invented it off the top of his head, but maybe, not certainly, this is the explanation:

"The name of the metal was probably first documented by Paracelsus, a Swiss-born German alchemist, who referred to the metal as "zincum" or "zinken" in his book Liber Mineralium II, in the 16th century.[68][70] The word is probably derived from the German zinke, and supposedly meant "tooth-like, pointed or jagged" (metallic zinc crystals have a needle-like appearance).[71] Zink could also imply "tin-like" because of its relation to German zinn meaning tin.[72] Yet another possibility is that the word is derived from the Persian word سنگ seng meaning stone.[73] The metal was also called Indian tin, tutanego, calamine, and spinter.[19]" - Wikipedia

This may be all we shall ever know of it.

JJ Sylvester was prolific in inventing mathematical terms. To him we owe 'matrix' 'discriminant' and I think "eliminant" and many in that area.

In living memory (mine) in molecular biology (as it was .becoming to be called) Jacques Monod comes to mind. In his time I felt he invented a new attention-grabbing term for every new discovery he had anything to do with: "allosteric", "protomer" (that is not a misspelling), "repressor" "operator" "operon" and related are some permanently fixed in terminology.

(Writing that has recalled to mind that at the time, late sixties or so, someone, I think in a letter to Nature, satirically postulated the "explanon". This was a molecular entity with the property that whatever the phenomenon, the explanon would explain it. Maybe protein, certainly protean. (This word has however now been taken over by something else.)

 

[pinball1970]

I thought Planck gave us quantum but I don't think he did

Dawkins - Meme

Everyday use

 

[epenguin]

I thought Plank gave us quantum but I don't think he did

But I expect he could spell his own name.

 

[pinball1970]

But I expect he could spell his own name.

Thanks, I corrected it quickly so I think I got away with it.

 

[Klystron]

For science naming irony, consider astronomer Fred Hoyle and the ultra-popular designation Big Bang theory.

Etymological lore has Hoyle, one of the founders of Steady State theory, referring to the leading rival theory during a 1949 interview using "big bang", perhaps an oblique reference to T.S.Elliot's oft quoted 1925 satirical poem The Hollow Men "the world ends / Not with a bang, but a whimper".

Hoyle's name is now associated with a rival theory he opposed.