Tell me about these scientist types
 

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?

Picking and choosing who you respect based on their titles shows more about your character than theirs...

so what does that say about the liberal peeps that consider Noam Chomsky the social engineering genius of the world when in reality he's a only a Linguistics Professor???

one of my favorite movies :thumbsup

Luckily for you gfy has the greatest concentration of physicists in the world so I'm sure one of our overqualified members will be by to answer your question shortly

Who said anything about character? I'm talking about respect for one's scientific knowledge and abilities. Einstein was a serial philanderer. Thomas Edison was a first class asshole by all accounts.

Here's a different look at the man considered the greatest inventor in history.

Thomas Edison

What He's Remembered For
Invented radio, microwaves, primitive radar systems, the lightbulb and electricity

Why You Should Hate Him
He did not invent the light bulb. Edison was not the smartest scientist around-not by a long shot. He did, however, hire a brilliant man named Nikola Tesla, who luckily was.

Tesla is responsible for radio, microwaves, primitive radar systems and the electricity we use today, which Edison gets credit for. The truth is that Edison hired Tesla to redesign his electrical generators. Tesla did, but when he asked for the $50,000 he was promised, Edison replied, and this is a direct quote, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," and paid him only in middle fingers.

Tesla quit and tried to strengthen his electrical discoveries in an effort to provide free energy for the entire world, but Edison and his thugs at General Electric devoted time not spent on stealing patents to making sure that the rest of the scientific community thought Tesla was crazy and dangerous. Tesla died alone and in serious amounts of debt. Edison died on a pile of money in a "Suck it, Tesla" T-shirt that he did not design.

Alexander Graham Bell

Ah, Bell. The man behind the telephone and a good guy all around. Bell spent a whole lot of time working with deaf people. His wife was deaf, his mother was deaf and he was even Helen Keller's favorite teacher. With this time-consuming near-obsession with deaf people, it's amazing that Bell found time to invent the telephone. Wait, not "amazing." "Impossible." That's the one.

Who Actually Invented It?
In 1860, an Italian named Antonio Meucci first demonstrated his working telephone, (though he called it the "teletrofono," mostly because Italians are wacky). Eleven years later, (still five years before Bell's phone came out), he filed a temporary patent on his invention. In 1874, Meucci failed to send in the $10 necessary to renew his patent, because he was sick and poor and Italian.

Two years after that, Bell registered his telephone patent. Meucci attempted to sue, of course, by retrieving the original sketches and plans he sent to a lab at Western Union, but these records, quite amazingly, disappeared. Where was Bell working at this time? Why, the very same Western Union lab where Meucci swore he sent his original sketches. Eventually, Meucci died penniless and faded away into obscurity.

Did Bell, given his convenient position at Western Union, destroy Meucci's records and claim the telephone as his own invention? It's difficult to say. One source says "Yes, definitely," while others just say "probably." It makes sense, if you look at the facts: Bell already had a number of important inventions under his belt; it isn't unreasonable to assume he just got greedy and didn't want to see anyone else succeed. Further, why would Bell even need a phone? Both his wife and mother were deaf. Who the hell was he gonna call?