What Sciences are Settled?

"Settled science" refers to scientific theories and principles that are widely accepted by the scientific community because they are supported by a substantial body of evidence and have withstood rigorous testing over time. While no scientific knowledge is ever considered absolutely final, certain fields and principles are regarded as highly reliable. All of the examples below are rather solid within their scope. Five hundred years ago, none of these existed*.

1. Newtonian Mechanics (in most everyday contexts - not at quantum level)

2. The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection (but it is a process as much as a science)

3. The Germ Theory of Disease (yet other forms, e.g. prion have been found)

4. The Structure of DNA (as the key component of life)

5. Heliocentrism (the Earth revolves around the sun)

6. Plate Tectonics (originally rejected)

7. The Big Bang Theory (foundational in cosmology, but questions remain – big ones)

8. Conservation Laws (Energy, Momentum, and Mass)

9. Atomic Theory (Of course there is modern string theory, quarks, and others subparticles out there. In schools you may have learned that atoms are the building blocks of matter. That ain’t necessarily so.)

For the record climate change (science) is not settled. It is very new and there is much information/data not yet used in the models. Give it another century (the blink of an eye in science terms).

* Heliocentrism is an exception that has bounced around for millennia, though earth-centered systems lasted the longest, even up to the time of Galileo.

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