Mathematics does not grow through a monotonous increase of the number of indubitably established theorems but through the incessant improvement of guesses by speculation and criticism, by the logic of proofs and refutations.
Imre LakatosThe classical example of a successful research programme is Newton's gravitational theory: possibly the most successful research programme ever.
Imre LakatosIndeed, this epistemological theory of the relation between theory and experiment differs sharply from the epistemological theory of naive falsificationism.
Imre Lakatos