The scientists of Azeroth

I've often reflected that scientists are the wizards of our time.  I mean first of all, the word "wizard" means "wise one," which, if you take "wise" as synonymous with "learned," seems apt.  In addition, here you have bookish people who spend years in study in order to unlock the deepest secrets of the universe.  I suppose technically it's the engineers who then accomplish amazing things with those secrets, but I also think the line between engineer and scientist is a bit blurry at best.  (Hard to know if they wear the gold or the blue, eh?)

So sticking with the "scientists as wizards" thesis, how does that work out for Warcraft?  WoW has five classes that I'd define as "primary casters."  How would I categorize each class in terms of modern science?  Glad you asked, let's begin.

Mage

This one's easy.  Mages are physicists.  They're all about studying the deep secrets of the cosmos, digging to uncover the laws behind magic itself.  They're the purest of the casters, drinking straight from the source -- no elements, no demons, no Light, not even the magic of the wilds.  Mages cut through it all and play with magic directly, just as modern physicists are all about teasing out the most basic laws of nature. 

Shaman

Shamans (it has a fucking 's' when you pluralize it, Blizzard, knock it off) are, for lack of a better word, "Earth scientists."  That's how the study of the elements corresponds, as far as I see it.  They're geologists and oceanographers and astronomers all rolled into one.  Their sphere of knowledge is the physical structure of the world, learning about its building blocks. 

Druid

Druids are where it starts to get a little tricky.  Prior to Cataclysm I think I would have just labeled them biologists and called it a day, but there's now more to it than that.  A druid is still a biologist, certainly, but he is also a meteorologist and an astronomer in equal measure.  I can't even cheat and call them "life scientists" because of their overlap with the physical sciences.  I suppose that makes druids multidisciplinary scientists, which is somewhat fitting given their many-roled nature.

Priest

I think priests are best described as psychologists, with a healthy dose of philosophy mixed in.  Priests are perhaps the caster that least fits the "scientist" mold -- their power isn't derived from study, it's from meditation and communion.  Nevertheless, priests are frequently called upon for counsel and for spiritual insight, so psychology, sociology, metaphysics, and ethics are all part of priestly training.

Warlock

I'm going to punt this one and say that warlocks are scientists that we don't have yet.  They study the Other: things that are not of this world.  They then use this knowledge to acquire power, though most of them (rightly) seem a bit off-kilter because of it.  They are occultists, they are xenobiologists, they are mad scientists -- until we as a species encounter true aliens, there won't be anything like a warlock in our scientific canon.

What about the other scientific disciplines?  Well, chemists are alchemists, plain and simple.  Likewise, engineers are all the same whether from our world or from Azeroth.  Archaeologists?  Hey!  They put that one in there as well!  Good stuff.