A List of Major Scientific Theories

I sometimes try to think of the theories that shape science today—you know, the ones that provide the underpinnings for our modern understanding of the world; those big ideas that we all just know and through which we interpret the world, or try to deny.

Today I even made a Google search for “major science theories.” This poor choice of words produced little useful information on the first two pages of search results. Consequently, I turned my attention elsewhere and tried to locate a good download counter for my html files that would work on a Windows server. That’s another story.

These are the theories with which I am familiar.
Primarily, we must theorize that we live in a material world. You laugh. Galileo might have been tried for heresey for a belief in materialism. Yep, his cosmological beliefs were a smokescreen for this more dangerous idea that would threaten the spiritualism of the Church. So says P. Redondi in Galileo Heretic.
1. The Atomic Theory
2. The Theory of Matter and Energy: Conservation of Matter and Energy
3. The Cell Theory
4. The Germ Theory
5. The Theory of Plate Tectonics
6. The Theory of Evolution
7. The Big Bang Theory
8. Chaos Theory
9. The “Gaia” Theory of a Sustainable Earth which is illustrated with the idea of Spaceship Earth
10. The Theory of Quantum Mechanics
11. The Theory of Special Relativity which subsumes The Theory of General Relativity which subsumes Newtonian theories of motion
12. The Photon Theory of Light Energy and its speed of light
13. The Theory of Electromagnetism as begun by Maxwell and continued with the work of others
14. The Theory of Radioactivity or Nuclear Theory
15. The Theory of Molecular Bonds
16. The Theory of States of Matter—or is this part of the Atomic Theory and the Molecular Bond Theory?
17. The Theory of Thermodynamics—hey, I guess this theory takes care of the States of Matter and the Molecular Bond theories.
18. The Theory of Homeostasis within Living Organisms
19. The Constructivist Theory of Learning
20. The theories of self and development of mental processes in the brain.
21. Theory of Gravity

Well, I managed to name more than the 10 I vaguely thought I would be able to list. There are more. Each of them explains a major aspect of our world. I have not mentioned theories that deal with weather or population stresses or social and cultural behavior or even the idea that the universe is huge. Maybe some of you can critique the list, add to it, and eventually maybe pare it down to the essential major theories. Mmm. Back to Google.

Anyone care to speculate with me?

According to scientists, the proof is in the pudding. If a theory makes a prediction and the prediction holds up, then there must be something correct about the theory.

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