In science, a theory is a mathematical description, a logical explanation, conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation
try again. this is incredibl convoluted.
a logical explanation is more than just a speculation. A mathematical description is not conjecture. theories are not opinions.
you have confused the layman's term "theory" with the science term "theory".
what you call "speculation, conjecture" is more like a hypothesis.
A: hey, this is an odd fact. (observation)
B: yeah. i wonder if a magnetic field is causing it? (hypothesis).
A: could be. let's try and experiment around with that idea. (experimentation)
B: sure, okay. experiment done. what does this data mean?
A: hmm, well, if it was the magnetic field causing this, we should see X effect. we're seeing effect Y.
B: let's run some more experiments
A: okay
B: odd. same result. effect Y appears over and over.
A: conlcusion? magnetic field does not explain observation.
theory: magnetic field is not responsible for odd fact.
as you see, the theory is the last thing to come out of the science process. it has predictive power. this theory predicts that whenever we see the odd fact, a magnetic field does not explain it. when other people see the same result, the theory is confirmed.
ol' Al wrote out discovered a theory (largely using math), which predicted a certain thing. the 1919 team you mentioned confirmed the theory.
theory in science is not speculation, conjecture, opinion. It is an explanation of observations we make, and a theory becomes stronger the more and more it is confirmed. It is a logical explanation of what we observe, based off of what we know. It is not opinion because the theory is being worked with and confirmed by more than one person or group of people. It is not speculation or conjecture because it has been confirmed.
theory is not fact. theory is an explanation of facts.
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