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spectroscopist

spectroscopist

1 9.0
A scientist who studies how light shows what materials are made of
  • noun
  • /ˌspɛktrəˈskɒpɪst/
  • Specialized
: espectroscopista
  • It seems that the spectroscopist's usual range of observed wavelengths did not include suitable transitions for these elements.

Now our goal now, well, let's just ask, I'm a spectroscopist.

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Examples

  • It was an unfortunate prediction, for within a generation, spectroscopists were regularly identifying in stars various chemical elements through their spectral lines.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Optical spectroscopists strive to further our understanding of matter by studying how it absorbs and emits light.

    Academic text (2012)
  • And I know a very few spectroscopists who worry about such things.

  • He quickly became the most successful spectroscopist in the world.

    Academic text (1992)
  • But understanding the Sun and stars would require all spectroscopists to be, well, on the same wavelength.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Astronomers and atomic spectroscopists have come to rely increasingly on CCDs.

    Academic text (1992)
  • A skilled spectroscopist, Keeler began work at the Lick Observatory in 1886, two years before it was completed and turned over to the University of California.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The strengths of some lines even depended on the time of day and the time of year, leading early spectroscopists to the appropriate conclusion that there was some constituent in Earth's atmosphere that caused them.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Meteor spectroscopist Jiri Borovicka of Ondrejov Observatory and I obtained spectra of this afterglow that show a series of parallel images of the meteor.

    Academic text (2001)
  • A renowned spectroscopist explained how different materials reflect light during his lecture.

Surface Forms

Morphology

spectroscopist = spectroscopy (semi-transparent) = spectroscopy + ist

The agentive suffix '-ist' is productively added to the noun 'spectroscopy' to form a person who practices that field, a regular and transparent derivation.

Etymology

Spectroscopist comes from spectrum (meaning 'appearance' or a 'band of light') and an old word for 'to look', the same idea as in telescope. So a spectroscopist is literally someone who 'looks at' bands of light to learn what materials or stars are made of.