“A theory can never be proven absolutely true, therefore there is no end to scientific endeavor.”

— Kristine Larsen

A true scientific theory is always open to be disproved, and the burden of proof is continually placed on the scientist.
[Kristine Larsen, Cosmology 101, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, http://books.google.com/books?id=xye8K0LYKawC&pg=PP21, 0-313-33731-4, xvii]

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Kristine Larsen 2

American astronomer 1963

Kristine Larsen (1963) American astronomer

“A proven theorem of game theory states that every game with complete information possesses a saddle point and therefore a solution.”

Richard Arnold Epstein (1927) American physicist

Source: The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic (Revised Edition) 1977, Chapter Two, Mathematical Preliminaries, p. 36

“Although, therefore, the theory of nationality is more absurd and more criminal than the theory of socialism, it has an important mission in the world, and marks the final conflict, and therefore the end, of two forces which are the worst enemies of civil freedom, — the absolute monarchy and the revolution.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

"Nationality" (1862)

“I've never been a rebel general and I've proven that until the end.”

Pietro Badoglio (1871–1956) Italian general during both World Wars and a Prime Minister of Italy

Non sono mai stato un generale ribelle e l'ho dimostrato sino all'ultimo.
Quoted in "Badoglio Risponde‎" - by Vanna Vailati - Italy - 1958

“In the end, a theory that can’t be shown to be wrong can never be shown to be right.”

Jerry Coyne book Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible

Source: Faith vs. Fact (2015), p. 34

Carroll Quigley (1910–1977) American historian

Source: The Evolution of Civilizations (1961) (Second Edition 1979), Chapter 1, Scientific Method and the Social Sciences, p. 40

“To say that prediction is the purpose of a scientific theory is to confuse means with ends. It is like saying that the purpose of a spaceship is to burn fuel.”

David Deutsch book The Fabric of Reality

Source: The Fabric of Reality (1997), Ch. 1
Context: To say that prediction is the purpose of a scientific theory is to confuse means with ends. It is like saying that the purpose of a spaceship is to burn fuel. … Passing experimental tests is only one of many things a theory has to do to achieve the real purpose of science, which is to explain the world.

“No matter which comes first, the facts or the theory, the question to be addressed is the extent to which the theory is borne out by the facts. The strongest possible claim would be that the theory can be logically derived from the facts. That is, given the facts, the theory can be proven as a consequence of them. This strong claim cannot be substantiated.”

Alan Chalmers book What Is This Thing Called Science?

Source: What Is This Thing Called Science? (Third Edition; 1999), Chapter 4, Deriving theories from facts: induction, p. 41.

“A theory is only as good as its assumptions. If the premises are false, the theory has no real scientific value. The only scientific criterion for judging the validity of a scientific theory is a confrontation with the data of experience.”

Maurice Allais (1911–2010) French economist; 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics

L'anisotropie de l'espace. La nécessaire révision de certains postulats des théories contemporaines. Les données de l'expérience (1997), p. 591

“It was rumored, in 1946, that the hangman in Nuremberg adjusted the nooses of some of the condemned to magnify the pain of suffocation. Such sadism was not called for then and is not called for now. But if fornication is wrong, there is no denying that it can bring pleasure. The death of Saddam Hussein at rope's end brings a pleasure that is undeniable, and absolutely chaste in its provenance.”

William F. Buckley Jr. (1925–2008) American conservative author and commentator

"Spare Thoughts on Saddam" http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmRjMzcyYjBkZTA0ZGQ4NzI4M2ZkOGNjMTVlNDA4MTU= in National Review Online (2006-12-29).

“A theory can never be proven absolutely true, therefore there is no end to scientific endeavor.”

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