I disagree completely. Hawking Radiation has never been proven to exist, which is why Stephen did not earn a Nobel for it.

Merely providing a mathematical possible solution that satisfies all known behaviors would be a tremendous step forward.

We don't actually "know" anything about EM, by example, except how to describe its behaviors in all physically observable instances. Radios work reliably with current. Supernovae behave comprehensibly. Photons carry predictable energies. However, long before we knew there were supernovae, or even photons, Maxwell said pretty much all we know about EM behavior.

I don't think study of fundamental particles is hamstrung by physical research. Higgs bosons were theorized long before they could be verified (very recently) to exist. Hawking Radiation has not yet been observed.

Testable, purely theoretical hypotheses are partly how the field advances. Proof is often quite difficult & expensive.