This is such a difficult question to answer mostly because there are so many answers to this question. To help narrow the scope here let’s begin with what physics is. According to the Oxford dictionary it is:

The branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. The subject matter of physics, distinguished from that of chemistry and biology, includes mechanics, heat, light and other radiation, sound, electricity, magnetism, and the structure of atoms.

So physics is pretty much a science of studying how everything in the universe works around you by using ideas you can prove with a lot of math and experimentation. This is why it is so hard to answer the question “So what is a physicist?”

A physicist is someone who is so curious about how things work they have figured out a way to get paid to do it. They have some type of drive to answer questions that bother them. From how do planets work to what happens if I blast that with this?

What most successful physicist understand is that in order to answer the questions that bother them, they must be willing to learn from others and realize that it is okay to be wrong. This is how we grow and push our boundaries of understanding.

Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance measurment station at Weber State University.