a newbie doctor

yes on first viewing that is the impression one gets, however reading the text (the laser altimeter) you provided leads me to believe he may hold a doctorate in another area of science.
this is why context is so important for English

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries represents the highest level of formal study or research in a given field. In some countries it also refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to practice in a specific profession, such as law or medicine. The best-known example of the former is the Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy), while examples of the latter include the U.S. degree of Doctor of Medicine and the Dutch Professional Doctorate in Engineering.

The term doctorate comes from the Latin docere, meaning "to teach", shortened from the full Latin title licentia docendi, meaning "teaching license".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorate

We call Physisicians, Dentists, and Vets "DOCTOR", Thats a convention. To sign a letter as Dr (your name here) is a problem of ethics. If you have a PhD in a science, you sign the letter (your name here) PHD. and then the license of regeistration (in my case its PG). Convention and insurance does not like using the term DOCTOR before ones name unless one is in some kind of medical practice. (Even pathologists are termed Doctor)

In Italy , its funny because everyone with some technical degree or skill is called I l Dottore.

and in US , a PHD is nor necessarily the highest degree one can achioeve. In the Fine ARts, the highest degree is an MFA, and in many technical fields, the highest degree is a MAster Of Applied SCiences( MAs.), which is a terminal degree.

And in Germany, because I am a professor with a law degree and am married to a Ph.D., I would be referred to formally as Professor Doctor Mrs. Doctor Husband's Last Name. How's that for a mouthful?

Here in the U.S., my degree and my title and $5.00 gets me a venti coffee at Starbucks. ;-)