Only a Theory

from Yahoo answers

"No. It is a theory, and always will be a theory. The word 'theory' does not mean it is 'disputed.'
The difference between theory and law is not one of "truth" or in how confident we are about it. It is not a difference in degree. Theories are not 'inferior facts.' Theories don't graduate to become "laws" by being "proven."
A law is a kind of fact ... an observation that appears to be universally true everywhere we look. A law is usually a single statement, and expressed in terms of an equation.
A theory is an explanation for facts. A theory can embody a large set of statements, which can grow as the theory expands to explain more observations, more facts. It explains facts. It cannot "become" a fact.
So what we call the 'germ theory of disease' started out as the explanation for many of the observed facts about diseases ... how they spread, what causes them to be worse, why hygiene can reduce their spread. But it has expanded to everything we know about bacteria and viruses, virulence, pathology, epidemiology, etc. etc. ... all of these subsets of what we still call 'germ theory'. It is, and always will be, called 'theory', not because anybody disputes whether microorganisms cause disease, but because all of it together is an EXPLANATION for facts.
Just remember that when people say 'the theory of X' ... that does not mean "the disputed fact of X" ... it means "what explains X, or is explained by X."
The theory of gravity is NOT the "dispute over whether gravity exists" (that is not in question) ... it means "what explains gravity, or what is explained by gravity."
The theory of evolution is NOT the "dispute over whether evolution exists" (that is not in question) ... it means "what explains evolution, or what is explained by evolution."
Ditto the photon theory of light. The atomic theory of matter. The plate tectonics theory of geology. The heliocentric theory of the solar system. And on and on.
A theory is NOT an unproven fact, or unproven law. A theory is an EXPLANATION for facts ... sometimes even an EXPLANATION for laws.