语言的使用规则只是一种弱规则。

考察了一下互联网，发现在数学和理论物理方面，invention和discovery是互用的。

首先，我们知道牛顿和莱布尼斯之争——微积分的发明/发现权：

The calculus controversy (often referred to with the German term Prioritätsstreit, meaning ‘priority dispute’) was an argument between 17th-century mathematicians Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz (begun or fomented in part by their disciples and associates) over who had first invented the mathematical study of change, calculus.

The last years of Leibniz's life, 1710–1716, were embittered by a long controversy with John Keill, Newton, and others, over whether Leibniz had discovered calculus independently of Newton, or whether he had merely invented another notation for ideas that were fundamentally Newton's.

Leibniz– Newton calculus controversy - Wikipedia,...

相对论可以说是爱因斯坦的发现，也可以说是他的发明。使用invention的如Arthur I. Miller《On Einstein's Invention of Special Relativity》（PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association Vol. 1982, Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers (1982), pp. 377-402）

再比如下面的链接：

What Did Albert Einstein Invent? - Julian Tzvi...

Albert Einstein Biography - Inventor of Brownian...

Albert Einstein Inventions - Innovation Creativity

Albert Einstein Inventions - Made Man

What Did Albert Einstein Invent? | Patented News /What Did Albert Einstein Invent? - Technology

量子理论也可以说是invention。这方面例子较多，不举。

但也有用Discovery而几乎不用invention的：Einstein's Discovery of Relativity - John Stachel

其中有使用invention一句：“Next, in April and May, Einstein published two papers. In one he invented a new method of counting and determining the size of the atoms or molecules in a given space and in the other he explains the phenomenon of Brownian motion. The net result was a proof that atoms actually exist - still an issue at that time - and the end to a millennia-old debate on the fundamental nature of the chemical elements.”

另外如：Einstein Theory - World History

A brief history of relativity - December 31, 1999...

http://ap-physics.david-s.org/physics-articles/inventions-discoveries/

How I created the theory of relativity - UC San...