Hacker and researcher are not mutually exclusive. A researcher seeks knowledge, a hacker seeks ways to apply knowledge to overcome obstacles, which includes se

Hacker and researcher are not mutually exclusive. A researcher seeks knowledge, a hacker seeks ways to apply knowledge to overcome obstacles, which includes seeking required knowledge and is knowledge itself. The more interesting question is in what capacity someone was acting, if it wasn't both. Anything else is like trying to find the difference between an employee and a pilot, as if they're mutually exclusive things.