Quote Originally Posted by Ramil
I think it has to do with the convinient abbreviation somebody have stumbled across one day. Ph.D. looked too little too great
It is a legacy system that came into being back in early Middle Ages. Medieval universities had 3 or 4 branches of study in which you could geta degree, including philosophy, medicine and theology. I think there was a fourth branch as well, but I am not sure. Modern English and American degrees reflect this system. You can be a Ph.D., M.D. or Th.D., but not a doctor of chemistry, for instance, because at the time when this system appeared, chemistry did not exist as a separate branch of learning.