Glossary
Physicist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential physicist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key physicist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in physicist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Grant
- Research funding.
- Hypothesis
- Testable prediction.
- Medical physics
- Physics in medicine.
- National lab
- Government research lab.
- Optics
- Physics of light.
- Particle accelerator
- Speeds up particles.
- Peer review
- Expert review of research.
- Protocol
- Study procedure.
- Quantum mechanics
- Physics of tiny particles.
- Relativity
- Physics of speed and gravity.
- Replication
- Repeating results.
- Semiconductor
- Material for electronics.
- Simulation
- Computer model.
- Thermodynamics
- Heat and energy.
- Uncertainty
- Measurement error range.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Physicist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Physicist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.