The helical model - our solar system is a vortex (our Galaxy, too)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. Even dictionaries can be wrong when they give an uneducated definition of a scientific term.

Theories do not make new facts. They do not create facts. Theories are not facts.

Many people use the word "theory" when the word "hypothesis" should be used.
Dictionaries frequently give definitions that are those use sloppily by the majority of people. However, this thread is not about "theory" as a term in every day conversation but about the scientific term "theory".

Newton's Theory of Gravitation is a well-established theory (as a sub-case of Einstein's relativistic Theory of Gravitation), but it is not a fact. It explains the facts.

On the other hand, do not pretend Newton's theory is conjectural enough to subject it to experimentation by walking out of a tenth-story window.

You propose a theory and look for supporting facts, don't find any then your theory is wrong and you start over. I thought this process was well known. I guess they don't teach it anymore.

They don't teach that anymore because that is dead wrong.

Scientists do not look for facts to support theories. Scientists look for facts that disprove theories.

Pseudo-scientists like creationists and "intelligent design" followers look for facts that support their theories and ignore facts that disprove them.

"A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying in other words that he is wiser today than he was yesterday." -- Alexander Pope (1688-1744)