Post by Admin on Sept 6, 2023 2:49:30 GMT
Let's clear up what a Theory is in Science.
In your ever day life, you've likely heard someone say "that's my theory" or something similar - another phrase used is "it's just a theory."
What the average citizen means by '"theory" is quite different than what a Scientific Theory is.
Average Americans understand a "theory" as something that is just an idea and may or may not be true - like flipping a coin, it can land on either side with 50% probability.
In Science, however, a Scientific Theory has been substantiated with lots of real tests and is very very very real.
To show you how serious and real a Scientific Theory is in Science, consider that all these words or terms are Scientific Theories (& not just random flip flopping ideas).
Plate tectonics: Alfred Wegener, 1912; J. Tuzo Wilson, 1960s
Wegener realized that the continents drifted around as early as 1912. But it wasn’t until the 1960s that scientists put the pieces together in a comprehensive theory of plate tectonics. Wilson, a Canadian geophysicist, was a key contributor of some of the major pieces, while many other researchers also played prominent roles.
General relativity: Einstein, 1915
General relativity was much more revolutionary than special relativity, because it ditched Newton’s law of gravity in favor of curved spacetime. And opened scientists’ eyes to the whole history of the expanding universe. And provided science fiction writers with black holes.
General relativity was much more revolutionary than special relativity, because it ditched Newton’s law of gravity in favor of curved spacetime. And opened scientists’ eyes to the whole history of the expanding universe. And provided science fiction writers with black holes.
Evolution by natural selection: Charles Darwin, 1859
Darwin showed that the intricate complexity of life and the intricate relationships among life-forms could emerge and survive from natural processes, with no need for a designer or an ark. He opened the human mind to pursuing natural science unimpaired by supernatural prejudices. His theory was so revolutionary that some people still doubt it. They shouldn’t.
Darwin showed that the intricate complexity of life and the intricate relationships among life-forms could emerge and survive from natural processes, with no need for a designer or an ark. He opened the human mind to pursuing natural science unimpaired by supernatural prejudices. His theory was so revolutionary that some people still doubt it. They shouldn’t.
Heliocentrism: Copernicus, 1543
One of the greatest insights ever, conceived by some ancient Greeks but established only two millennia later: the Earth revolves around the sun (as do other planets). It’s Number 1 because it was the first. Where did you think word revolutionary came from, anyway? (It was only rarely used to mean what it does today before Copernicus put revolutions in the title of his revolutionary book.)
One of the greatest insights ever, conceived by some ancient Greeks but established only two millennia later: the Earth revolves around the sun (as do other planets). It’s Number 1 because it was the first. Where did you think word revolutionary came from, anyway? (It was only rarely used to mean what it does today before Copernicus put revolutions in the title of his revolutionary book.)
The list goes on and on. So yes, a Theory in Science is something very very different from what the layman thinks the word means. In Science, a Scientific Theory is something that has been tested and proven so many times that it is just considered to be fact & reality.
Michael Piziak ~ naturalist