Originally Posted by Mutt

I honestly don't know, how many different type of scientific degrees/professions are there? When I read I see so many different types of physicists - theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, particle physicist, how many types are there? do you become just a regular physicist first then specialize and get yet another PhD to become a specialist? Same goes for chemists, engineers, biologists - so many different kinds. I need to know who to respect and who not to. Kind of like I know a doctor of neurology is a very educated medical doctor and a doctor of naturopathy is a clown.

Is there a list somewhere of different types of scientists I can see?

What's an astronomer vs an astrophysicist? Astronomer is just a guy who knows a ton of information about astronomy and really doesn't do much math/science?