It was a mathematician who ultimately validated quantum physics. Einstein would have been in big trouble without Heisenberg.
But Einstein was uncertain about Heisenberg.
But I do not general post on these threads anymore. It is not any fun without Right Wing Professor.
Evolution is the observation set. Niche fulfillment, speciation et al are the theories. If a “theory” is useful, it either explains more than the previous “useful” one or is a better predictor of future observations. For the most part, biologists have used thought experiments to explain why visual characteristics appear in mostly animals.
I suppose sipping brandy in a club in London that could be cool. Right now, in China, they are artificially splicing DNA from multiple species at a great rate. If you like, creation. Even if you don’t like, it is creation. Creation is becoming a technology. The encoding is becoming less of a mystery with each passing year. Darwinism has been around quite a while with a few mistake at the beginning involving speciation, but a few examples have been found.
Cut and paste genetics will probably include some homage to Darwin to get funding from the English speaking world for a little while, but I believe Lamarck and Darwin will both have their paragraph in Sci history books. But the tech marches on.
DK