The scare quotes around “Doctor” are interesting to me.
Doctor is a title bestowed upon academic accomplishment, that has been extended as a courtesy to physicians, in recognition of the medical trade’s contribution to humanity. It is intended to indicate that physicians have the same social rank as distinguished academics.
The original “Doctors” were the learned doctors of the church - essentially, teachers who weren’t necessarily preachers. But when the great universities of Europe began to escape domination by church hierarchies, the requirement of religious conformance was accordingly weakened, and doctors of theology became distinguished from doctors of philosophy, which distinction was followed shortly by division into increasingly fine academic regimens such as Natural History and Mathematics. Much later (in fact almost a century later) doctors of medicine were recognized, and more recently surgeons have also been awarded the title of doctor (despite the objections of some physicians).
So complaining that someone isn’t a real doctor because they have a Maths Doctorate is extremely amusing to historians. A person with a Phd in Mathematics has a greater historical and etymological claim to the title than any physician, but in truth they are both real doctors.
