Are scientific theories always fact?
Well, when a person is on trial I don't think logical hypotheses should be submitted as evidence no matter how logical the hypothesis is. I wonder how many innocent people were falsely convicted in history based largely on phrenology evidence.
Yes. Scientific theories are always fact (based on the dictionary definition of the word "fact"). A theory is basically a hypothesis that has been tested. New facts can later be discovered that cause a theory to be revised but the theory would still have been based on empirical testing. Newton's law of universal gravitation is a fact but doesn't correctly predict Mercury's orbit around the sun. Einstein's general theory is also a fact and correctly predicts Mercury's orbit because it accounts for how Mercury is affected being so close to the sun to experience a more dramatic curvature of space-time.
Evolution of species is also a fact. Even if Charles Darwin crawled out of his grave and held a press conference proclaiming he was wrong that wouldn't change the fact that there is sufficient amounts of diverse evidence to properly infer that evolution is a fact.
The same can be said about the age of the universe being 13.8 billion years old is a fact. Nobody was obviously around with a calendar to witness it but there are diverse measurable data points not directly related to each other but all lining up in a way that demonstrates the universe has been in existence for roughly 13.8 billion years.
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