Falsification

Falsification, as it pertains to the methods of science, is the act of disproving an hypothesis, or theory.

Falsification is important, since one cannot prove a theory to be correct; rather one can try to show that it is wrong. A successful theory is one that has not been shown to be incorrect despite many attempts.

Philosopher Karl Popper called falsifiability a hallmark of science. Although in the opinion of some, Popper's definition is incomplete, it remains undeniable that falsifiability is an important part of science: a hypothesis that cannot be falsified is a hypothesis that makes no difference in the universe.