Until the eclipse in 1920(?) empirical proof of Einstein's Theory of relativity ( particularly that gravitational fields bend light ) was not possible. Much of Hawkins' work on black holes was throught by most scientists to be true. Now even Hawkins acknowledges that he was in error. At one time "medical science" thought that the best treatment for mental illness was labondomy. Many of us take Aspirin but no one is quite certain how it works chemically. Any number of theories have been adduced about the origin of the universe but no one can account for all of the matter known to exist without fudging. No one can explain for certain why Newtonian physics does not work on the sub-atomic level but Quantum machanics does not work above the sub-atomic level. There is consensus that the Big Bang explains the origins of the universe but no conclusive proof. Part of the reason we hear so much nonsense from religious zellots about Darwin is that on a human level, despite all the genetic evidence that evolution works it has not been conclusively proven for huamns and is hence considered technically a theory. But the mass of scientists have formed a consensus in favor of its being more than a theory.


There are many instinces in science where there is evidence but no conclusive proof.

Alan