Alister E. Mcgrath said this quote

“ Science proceeds by inference, rather than by the deduction of mathematical proof. A series of observations is accumulated, forcing the deeper question: What must be true if we are to explain what is observed? What big picture of reality offers the best fit to what is actually observed in our experience? American scientist and philosopher Charles S. Peirce used the term abduction to refer to the way in which scientists generate theories that might offer the best explanation of things. The method is now more often referred to as inference to the best explanation. It is now widely agreed to be the philosophy of investigation of the world characteristic of the natural sciences. ”