physicist | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

61 entries found.

early 19c., of writing, from holograph + -y (4); physics sense, "process of using holograms," is from 1964, coined by discoverer, Hungarian-born physicist Gábor Dénes, from hologram on analogy of telegraphy/telegram.

neutrino (n.)

"neutral particle smaller than a neutron," 1934, from Italian neutrino, coined 1933 by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi from neutro "neuter" (see neuter (adj.)) + -ino, diminutive suffix.

lawrencium (n.)

1961, Modern Latin, from the name of Ernest O. Lawrence (1901-1958), U.S. physicist, cyclotron pioneer and founder of the lab where it was discovered. With metallic element ending -ium.

einsteinium (n.)

radioactive element, discovered in the debris of a 1952 U.S. nuclear test in the Pacific, named 1955 for physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955). With metallic element ending -ium.

Heisenberg

1932 in reference to German physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), pioneer of quantum mechanics. His "uncertainty principle" (deduced in 1927) is that an electron may have a determinate position, or a determinate velocity, but not both.

voltaic (adj.)

1813, designating electricity produced by chemical action, formed in recognition of Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), who perfected a chemical process used in electrical batteries, + -ic.

fermium (n.)

radioactive element, discovered in the debris of a 1952 U.S. nuclear test in the Pacific, named 1955 for Italian-born U.S. physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-1954). With metallic element ending -ium.

curie (n.)

"unit of radioactivity," 1910, named for French physicist Pierre Curie (1859-1906), who, with his wife, Marie (1867-1934), discovered radium. The family name in Old French means "kitchen."

fluorescence (n.)

1852, "property of glowing in ultraviolet light," coined by English mathematician and physicist Sir George G. Stokes (1819-1903) from fluorspar (see fluorine), because in it he first noticed the phenomenon, + -escence, on analogy of phosphorescence.

electrode (n.)

"one of the two ends of an open electrical circuit," 1834, coined by English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday from electro- + Greek hodos "a way, path, track, road" (a word of uncertain origin; see Exodus) on the same pattern as anode, cathode.

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