In response to “Evolution: theory, not fact,” in Feb. 7 edition of Technician.   I do not have a problem with people sharing their viewpoint. However, to be credible, the facts need to be checked. A theory and a scientific theory are not the same thing. A theory in English is just what was said: an unproven assumption. A scientific theory is a supposition explaining scientific observations and has a whole body of proof to support it. In order for something to be a scientific theory, there cannot be anything to refute any part of the theory. In short, it can be treated as fact. 

Evolution is only a theory in the same way gravity is only a theory. You can go around telling people little fairies and gnomes are using their magical powers to keep things sticking to earth, but people will think you are crazy. Since Newton wrote the Principia, there have not been any scientific observations to disprove gravity. We cannot definitively prove it, but every scientific observation on the matter has pointed toward the gravitational theory, and there has been nothing to disprove it. 

Evolution cannot be definitively proven, however there is a whole body of scientific and empirical data to support it, and nothing to refute it, other than conjecture. There is no proof to support creationism, or even to cast a credible doubt on evolution. This is the reason it cannot be taught in science class. Creationism is fine for Sunday school, but it does not in any way belong in a scientifically based classroom.   Wesley Thill

sophomore, mechanical engineering