At the end of September, American rapper B.o.B announced a fundraiser for an extravagant project - the launch of a satellite designed to prove that the Earth is shaped like a disk, not a sphere. This could be considered the quirks of a creative personality or PR. But B.o.B is not alone in his views - several American celebrities have expressed the same views, such as athlete Tommy Watkins and former porn star Tila Tequila.

None of them can be called a luminary of science, but all of them are modern people who use the Internet and lead an active social life. And besides them, there are hundreds more unknown members of the Flat Earth Society and the like. What could make a person in the 21st century claim that the Earth is disk-shaped? Are they really saying this seriously?

Rapper B.o.B claims the Earth is flat, there was no moon landing, and the 9/11 attacks were carried out by the government (Photo: Dominick Brady | CC BY-SA 3.0)

Did they really believe in a flat Earth in the Middle Ages?

Now the idea of ​​a flat Earth is associated with the Middle Ages, it is often cited as an argument in disputes about science and religion. But the fact that in the Middle Ages the Church allegedly preached a flat shape of the Earth is in itself an anti-scientific myth. The idea of ​​the Earth as a disk follows naturally from the way we see the world around us, and many ancient peoples really did not imagine the Earth as three-dimensional.

But already in the 6th century BC, Pythagoras first suggested that the world has the shape of a sphere. For several centuries in Greece there were different theories on this matter, until Aristotle put an end to the dispute around the 330s BC. Aristotle proved his conclusions by observations - he monitored the shape of the shadow that the Earth casts on the Moon during an eclipse.

No one seriously believed in the Land on Elephants and Turtles. This is a loose interpretation of Indian mythology by Western authors who used it as an example of ignorance

The “Power,” a sphere with a cross, symbolized the power of Christianity over the globe. It was also used by the Romans and Byzantines
(Photo: Ikiwaner | CC BY-SA 3.0)

Since then, the idea of ​​a spherical Earth has dominated Western science. Of course, exceptions arose, but none gained such popularity as Aristotelian ideas. They only argued about whether our ball revolves around the Sun or vice versa. The idea that the Earth is not at the center of the Universe was perceived as a denial of man's special place in the universe and even as worship of the Sun. But the shape of the planet did not raise any questions.

The image of “stupid medieval fanatics” who believed in a flat world arose only in the 19th century. This was a period of fierce debate between science and religion. The main struggle was between evolutionists and creationists, but this was only part of the global debate: is God directly involved in creation, or does nature function according to laws that can be studied? Both sides published a lot of books, articles and simply gossip designed to denigrate their opponents in the eyes of the public. Everything was used: from banal insults to attempts to rethink history.

One of these attempts was the book by the American writer Washington Irving, “The History of the Life and Travels of Christopher Columbus,” published in 1828. It is there that the clergy first appear, dissuading Columbus from traveling, as he supposedly “will fall from the edge of the Earth.” Although this scene was Irving’s invention, his contemporaries liked this image, and the myth of obscurantist clerics who believed in a flat Earth is still alive.

Church scientists did criticize Columbus's plan, but from other positions. They argued that the globe was much larger than the navigator thought, and the ships simply did not have enough provisions for the entire journey to Asia. The criticism is absolutely fair: if it had not been on the path of the American caravels, Columbus's expedition would have been doomed.

Globe of the 15th century, contemporary with Columbus. In place of America there is a continuous ocean (Photo: Neitram | CC BY-SA)

Then who came up with this?

Samuel Rowbotham, "father" of the flat earth

But if the idea of ​​a flat Earth did not come from the Middle Ages, then where did it come from? Paradoxically, from the same 19th century.

In 1849, the Englishman Samuel Rowbotham (1816–1884), under the pseudonym Paralax, published the brochure “Zetetic Astronomy: The Earth is not a Globe,” which he expanded into a full-fledged book in 1881. According to Rowbotham, these texts were the result of much scientific research.

They were based on the so-called Bedford experiment. It boiled down to the fact that Rowbotham, standing in the Bedford River, watched through a telescope a flag on a receding boat and measured the distances at which the flag remained visible. According to his calculations, if the Earth had been spherical, the flag would have disappeared from view much earlier. So he concluded that the Earth is actually flat, and objects disappear from view due to the peculiarities of human vision.

Bedford experiment. Illustration from Rowbotham's book

Rowbotham's theory was disproved in 1864 by astronomer Richard Proctor. And six years later, the British naturalist Alfred Wallace repeated the Bedford experiment, proving that if we take into account the effect of refraction of light rays in the atmosphere, the experiment confirms and does not disprove the curvature of the Earth. Nevertheless, the theory still has followers. A big role in this was played by the charisma of Rowbotham himself, who learned to respond brilliantly to criticism.

In addition, Samuel Rowbotham did not limit himself to denial, but proposed his own concept of the structure of the Earth. In his opinion, the Earth has the shape of a disk, in the center of which is the Arctic, and at the edges is a huge ice wall of Antarctica. The Sun and Moon are located at a distance of 4800 kilometers from the surface of the Earth, and after another 200 kilometers “space” begins. It is this view of the world that still underlies the flat Earth theory.

The book that started it all

What made Rowboatham's ideas especially popular was the very dispute between science and religion that lasted throughout the 19th century. Conservative thinkers have used criticism of the spherical Earth as an excuse to pull the rug out from under their opponents. If you don't know what shape our world is, how can you judge more complex concepts? Any arguments were used - even the completely ridiculous. Thus, Rowbotham's follower William Carpenter considered the argument in favor of a flat Earth to be that sailors use flat rather than spherical maps.

Where did the Flat Earth Society come from?

In 1893, eight years after Rowbotham's death, Lady Elizabeth Blount created the Zetetic Society. Its name refers to the scientific method of zetetism, which, in the understanding of Rowbotham and his followers, is based on complete trust in experimental data and observations to the detriment of the construction of theories. Flat Earth supporters took the method to the point of absurdity, declaring the senses and elementary means of observation to be the only sources of knowledge. Modern flat Earth proponents also operate within this logic.

Another important “achievement” of the society was new interpretations of the Bible, in which its members sought confirmation of their rightness. At the same time, nothing specific is said about the shape of the Earth in the Holy Scriptures - its authors were not concerned with such questions. This did not stop the idea of ​​a flat Earth from spreading in the small Christian Catholic Apostolic Church that arose in America at the end of the 19th century. Its founder, John Dowie, brought the idea of ​​a flat Earth to American soil. And the second and last head of the church, Wilbur Voliva, passionately defended the idea of ​​a flat Earth until his death. It was through their efforts that a small but stable group of Rowbotham supporters emerged in the United States. So Irving's book became a self-fulfilling prophecy: religious obscurantists really began to believe in a flat Earth.

Flat Earth map by Orlando Ferguson. Square - because the author literally interpreted the “corners of the Earth” mentioned in the Book of Revelation, and at the same time round - because God “sits above the circle of the Earth” (Isaiah 40:22)

By the middle of the 20th century, this faith was concentrated in the United States. In 1956, Samuel Shanton created the Flat Earth Society. Its members called themselves the successors of the Zetetic Society and borrowed almost all of Rowbotham's concepts, adapting them only slightly. The Flat Earth Society adopted a long tradition of disputes with opponents, a coherent picture of the world and “scientific experiments” from the Zetetic Society. All this allowed them to survive what happened next.

When Samuel Shenton was shown a photo of the Earth from space, he said: “See how easily such photographs can deceive the untrained eye.”

By the 1980s the society had about 3,000 members. Of course, someone joined as a joke or out of rebellion, but the organization continued to exist and offer new arguments in defense of its views. Only in the 1990s did a period of oblivion begin - old members died, and new ones did not come to take their place.

But in 2004, the flat Earth theory was reborn - on the Internet. Daniel Shenton (namesake, no relation to Samuel Shenton) created the Flat Earth Society website. The solution turned out to be brilliant - and not only because it is easier to search for and recruit supporters on the Internet. The main thing is that the public suddenly learned that even in the 21st century there are hundreds of flat Earth supporters, and they flocked to the site simply out of curiosity. This justified the existence of the society and allowed it to attract people, until finally even celebrities began to support it.

What do they actually believe?

Modern adherents of the flat Earth theory adhere to Rowbotan's general ideas: the Earth is flat, the Arctic is in the center, Antarctica forms a giant wall at the edges. At the same time, the question of what exactly is under the earth’s disk is not clearly clarified. The Moon and the Sun are spheres about 50 kilometers in size that move around the disk, ensuring the cycle of day and night. Separate parts of the planet are illuminated by them separately, as if we were holding a flashlight over a geographical map.

Lunar eclipses are supposedly explained by the existence of a special “anti-moon”. It was often mentioned in connection with the recent eclipse, which intensified the flat Earth debate on the Internet. Knowing that the best defense is an attack, flat Earthers came up with the theory that a full moon is impossible on a spherical Earth. By the way, the rest of the planets in this theory are recognized as spherical, but the answer to the question why is quite simple: “Because the Earth is not a planet.”

Although flat Earthers are not as aggressively paranoid as followers of other similar concepts, government conspiracy occupies an important place in their picture of the world. In this case, the “main villain” turns out to be NASA, with which they associate the government’s attempts to hide the truth from people. Thus, insidious NASA officers based in Antarctica allegedly do not allow people to see the edge of the Earth. They also manipulate navigation instruments on airplanes, which is why ordinary pilots think they are flying around a spherical Earth. And the almighty NASA does not allow airliners to fly above 36,000 feet (11 km) - after all, according to calculations, the curvature of the Earth becomes visible to the naked eye at an altitude of 40,000 feet (12.2 km).

The motivation of the conspirators, according to the authors of the theory, is quite prosaic. The FAQ on the flat Earth website states: “A real space program would cost much more than a fake one. NASA and similar organizations are simply profiting from the money allocated for space exploration.” The question of how expensive it is to manipulate all the airlines in the world is not addressed.

Well, society gives the most interesting explanation to gravity. According to the modern version of their teaching, gravity does not exist. The fall of objects is explained by the fact that the earth's disk and the entire structure associated with it moves from bottom to top with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s 2 . This movement itself is explained by the action of a mysterious force known as “dark energy”. Moreover, the authors of the theory are seriously arguing whether this acceleration will continue indefinitely or not and what will happen when the Earth exceeds the speed of light. Yes, yes, flat Earth supporters are trying to reconcile their views with the teachings of Einstein.

If you think that the horizon curves when flying at high altitude, NASA is fooling you!

They're not serious, are they?

Neil deGrasse Tyson not only argued with B.o.B. on Twitter, but also recorded a song with his nephew in response to the rapper’s track about the spherical Earth conspiracy

After reading all this, most people who did at least well in school should grab their heads and ask: “Are they serious?” At first glance, the Flat Earth Society looks like a long-running joke, like the famous post by a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Stockholm that “Australia doesn’t exist.” The society's current vice president, John Wilmore, does not deny that some people join its ranks just to get a funny diploma to hang on the wall. But Wilmore himself claims that he is sincere in his faith and knows many members of society who look at the world the same way.

And we have no reason not to believe him. Karen Douglas, a psychologist at the University of Kent who studies conspiracy theories, says most social supporters are honest. Their belief is not much different from belief in any other conspiracy theory. Followers of such theories invent some kind of alternative to the generally accepted view of the world and adhere to it despite all arguments. Any facts that contradict the theory are declared a hoax, even if the motivation of the deceivers is unclear. If a person begins to believe in something like a flat Earth, it means that he has already rejected many scientific truths, and it will be difficult to convince him otherwise.

“Flat Earther” Mike Hughes threatens to build a rocket with his own money and fly into space to prove he’s right

The surprising thing is not that these people believe in a flat Earth, but that many of them believe only into her. It is common for proponents of conspiracy theories or pseudoscience to easily accept many different concepts. Russians are well aware of this: the same people charged water from the TV, were afraid of the Taxpayer Identification Number as “the number of the devil,” and now believe in Dulles’ plan. But the Flat Earth Society is moving away from this pattern. Its members do not believe in homeopathy and are not afraid of GMOs; they even try to reconcile their theory with modern physics. And when President Obama compared people who deny global warming to the Flat Earth Society, real society was outraged: they say they just believe in climate change.

Perhaps it is this combination of belief in one strange idea and attempts to remain faithful to the generally accepted picture of the world that allows flat Earth supporters to feel like modern people and not be afraid to declare their views.

For unknown reasons, an increasing number of people - and even scientists - around the world are joining the "Flat Earth Society" and declaring all of humanity's current ideas about the Universe and space to be a global conspiracy to send humanity down the wrong path of development. The authors of works published by conspiracy theorists argue that the Earth is actually flat and surrounded by an impenetrable wall of ice, and the Sun and Moon revolve around a flat disk of the Earth.

All photographs of space objects, both natural and artificial, were declared by the British-American society of “scientists” to be fakes created for the purpose of misinformation. At the same time, the society’s slogan became ironic: “The Flat Earth Society has supporters all over the globe!”

Flat Earth theory

-And yet she spins!

"Flat" vs. "Round"

The early ancient philosophers Leucippus and Democritus also argued that the Earth was flat. But Aristotle in 330 BC provided evidence for the sphericity of our planet, based on changes in the horizon line and shifts in the positions of constellations at different latitudes. In addition, he noticed that the shadow of the Earth during a lunar eclipse is always round. In the 1st century, Pliny the Elder wrote about the sphericity of the Earth as a generally accepted fact. Nevertheless, the confrontation between the “flat-earthers” and the “sharovers” continued for many centuries with varying success. For example, in Western Europe and Muslim countries in the early Middle Ages (V-XI centuries), under the influence of leading religions, ideas about a flat Earth prevailed. But the development of astronomical and geographical knowledge led to the fact that already in the late Middle Ages (XIV-XV centuries) the sphericity of the Earth was not questioned by educated people and was not denied by religious authorities. However, in Rus' the concept of a flat Earth was considered on a par with the geocentric picture of the world until the 17th century.

Flat Earth Society

The society distributed brochures, newsletters, and other literature promoting the flat Earth model. And although Johnson died in 2001, the International Flat Earth Society continues to function. How many people are in it? no one knows for sure, the numbers range from hundreds to several thousand. But, judging by the Internet, there are supporters of the flat Earth theory in almost all countries of the world, including Russia.

Entertaining cosmology

The earth is covered by a transparent dome, above which the sun, moon and stars revolve, ensuring the cycle of day and night.

Gravity doesn't exist. In fact, the Earth is flying upward at a constant acceleration of 9.81 meters per second. And therefore, any objects thrown upward do not fall down, but are caught up with the ground. Thus, if you jump, the ground does not pull you down, but rather rises up and hits your heels. But if this theory is correct, the skeptic has a natural question: how can insects, birds and even airplanes fly? After all, since the disk rises upward all the time, a body that had been in the air for a long time would inevitably collide with the surface or even be flattened against it. What force is pushing the Earth up? “Flat-earthers” find it difficult to give a clear answer to these questions. But if you ask them what will happen if the planet reaches maximum speed, they will answer that due to the curvature of space-time, it can accelerate indefinitely.

Irrefutable evidence

Or, when a ship, moving away from the shore, disappears behind the horizon, this seems to be irrefutable proof of the sphericity of the Earth. However, the “flat earther” will object that if you take good equipment and adjust the magnifying zoom, then a ship that has disappeared over the horizon will reappear in the field of view. That is, our vision is limited by the point of perspective dispersion, and not by the horizon line. If you equip your eye with good optics, then there will be no horizon line limiting visibility due to the curvature of the Earth.

But what about the generally accepted statement that the Earth rotates around its axis and at a speed of more than 400 meters per second? "Flat Earther" refutes this with a simple and witty experiment. He will take a stone and throw it vertically upward. After a few seconds, the stone will fall to the same point from which it was thrown, although if the Earth is spinning, it should fall many meters to the side.

Supporters of classical knowledge will object to this that atmospheric pressure drags along everything that is in its field of action. That is everything. that which enters the atmospheric layer flies along with the surface of the Earth.

One day, the Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli conducted an experiment. He filled a tube sealed at one end with mercury, turned it over and lowered the open end into a cup of mercury. The mercury column in the tube dropped to a certain level. Thus, the scientist proved the existence of vacuum, as well as atmospheric pressure, which affects any body.

Proponents of the flat earth theory believe that in the case of Torricelli’s experiment, no vacuum was formed in the tube, but mercury vapor simply accumulated there, which, at minimal pressure at the very top of the sealed tube, began to boil at room temperature. That is, there is no atmospheric pressure, and if a stone thrown vertically upward returns to the same point, it means the Earth is flat.

Worldwide conspiracy

There are no space flights and there cannot be. All the magnificent photographs and videos taken from satellites circling above our planet and by astronauts from orbital stations are a shameless fake!

Subject " Flat Earth"Does it seem funny to you? Then I'll remind you. Just 500 years ago, everyone KNEW that the Earth was Flat, and those who said that the Earth was Round were taking a serious risk. At best, his friends, acquaintances and relatives looked at him as a “lunatic.” At worst, he was burned at the stake by religious fanatics.

Now this story has a continuation...

Earth became again Flat, but now no one will burn you. Most people still won’t understand what is written, because they haven’t learned to think with their heads. However, this is not about you. And treat the article with Humor.

Play: "The Flat Earthers Strike Back."

Scene 2: "Evidence for a Flat Earth."

Characters:

Professor Sharov — (PSh ). He talked about the Round Earth. . I hope you have seen his official responses. Because now what we love most about this site will begin - “Melting Our Reality «.

Professor Wonderful — (PZ ). Talks about Flat Earth. Right now.

You -simple buyer.

Did I read Scene 1?

1. Our world.

You : Good afternoon, Professor Wonderful (PZ ), I just talked with your colleague Sharov about our world, and somehow he didn’t look 100% convincing. What do you have?

PZ : I have a Model and Flat Earth Map. She looks like this.

PZ : Our world is a Flat Disk, which is surrounded by an ice wall. Therefore, the water does not flow anywhere and you cannot fall over the edge. The ice wall is officially called Antarctica, it covers the entire disk, how far it goes into the depths - we don’t know, maybe to infinity. Or maybe a hundred kilometers away there is life there. The military closed Antarctica with a special agreement from 1959. Therefore, it’s not so easy to get there. Alas.

The Flat Earth map is officially called in science Azimuthal Projection.

More details: From above we are covered by the “Dome” - a structure UNDER which the Sun and Moon rotate, plus the rest of the “planets”. The height of the Dome is 5 thousand km. The Moon rotates just below the Sun. The stars are light bulbs on the Dome.

You : Clear. Professor Sharov, could you remind me of your version?

PS: Earth is the planet on which we live, and our model is called Globe, from Latin globus -> ball. The surface is 29% land, 71% water. A simplified model of the Earth looks like this.

PS : The Sun - 99.86% of the mass of the entire solar system, is located in the center. The planets revolve around the Sun. Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Visually below.

You : Clear. Refresh your memory. Question for you, PZ . There are generally accepted proofs, which are usually taught in schools, as confirmation that the Earth is round. Can you refute them or show an alternative explanation?

PZ : Yes, sure. Show me your evidence, I will comment on it.

Moreover, I'm willing to pay 1000 dollars to the one who refutes proof that the earth is flat. You are interested?

You : Yes, I want to earn 1000 USD, if you're not kidding. But first, disprove the evidence for a round Earth. Ready?

PZ: I'm seriously offering a deal. Ready.

You: Evidence 1. The ships go beyond the horizon and first the hull disappears, and then the sail disappears. Isn't this proof of the curvature of the Earth's surface?

PZ: No, not proof. The ship simply diminishes on the horizon and disappears as soon as it passes." convergence point", that is, goes behind " visibility horizon". You can get it back if you take the binoculars.

How does vision work?.

An object that is moving away from you reaches a point on the horizon when it is too small for you to make out anything. Here's the point in the center of the picture where the road shrinks into a point. This point is called « point of convergence «, point where parallel lines converge in the EYE. This is our vision on Earth.

We use 2 eyes to determine the distance to the object.

That is, the further the object is from us, the smaller it will be. And even 2 parallel lines are still removed and reduced to Convergence points of the eye lens. This skill is very useful for PREDATOR HUNTERS (us, in the past). Determine the distance to prey or danger .

Even 1 eye is still able to show us the Distance, because the light passes through the edges of the lens (points 1, 2, 3, 4). Pupil = ROUND LENS, not a narrow SLIT. Therefore, even 1 eye is very cool!

We see an object up to 7 km away on the horizon. The physical size of the pupil does not allow one to see further.

Practice.

Here are 2 parallel railway tracks. They are parallel to each other thousands of kilometers ahead, WAYS DO NOT CROSS, DO NOT GO TO EACH OTHER AT ALL, otherwise the train would not have been able to travel for weeks along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok.

But, you see how 4 parallel rails converge to a point on the horizon, right? Same with the ship. Curvature has nothing to do with it. Curvature is the most primitive way to explain all these effects.

Keep in mind that hot air or water vapor may prevent you from seeing a ship in the distance and above the horizon.

Here, for example, is the phenomenon of a mirage. When in the summer the effect hangs over a hot road like a wet puddle. I think everyone has seen it in their lives. The middle dividing strip disappears in " puddle«.

The object, the ship-machine will be blur and shrink with distance. The wheels will be the first to disappear because they are closest to the ground, although the road is absolutely flat in front of you. It's the same at sea.

Water and wind create waves. Waves breaking on the surface of the water create many small splashes and this entire mass hangs above the surface of the sea. It is clear that the sail will be the first to rise above the thick mass, a fog of drops. After all, you are looking almost parallel to the surface of the water. And the sail is the tallest object on the ship. The closer the ship is to you, the higher the sail will be above the surface of the water. Although, initially, you see the entire ship on the horizon. It's just that because of the shallow spray (kilometers away from the ship), you won't see its hull until it's close enough. You might as well try to look through the fog. Will it work out big?

You : According to Evidence 1: Features of vision, “vanishing point” + mirage + water vapor.

Evidence 2: Moon and Lunar Eclipses. We see how a semicircular shadow from the Earth creeps onto the Moon during eclipses. A semicircular shadow is cast by the ball or disk of the Earth on the Moon, and according to your theory, the Sun and Moon are above us. What then causes an eclipse in your model?

PZ : A solar eclipse is easy to explain. The Sun and Moon orbit above our heads. And the Moon is slightly lower than the Sun, therefore, when their path intersects, we see a semicircular shadow (of the Moon) creeping onto the Sun, and we have the Black Sun before our eyes.

Regarding the Lunar Eclipse.

Let's begin with Moon by her own anomalous object on the whole head . Have you ever been surprised by what we see Always only 1 side of the moon? Why is that? Perfect orbital synchronization? —-> or this artificial object? Why is everything in nature tied to the Moon? Are planting, animal migration, even those women's cycles perfectly synchronized with the 28-day cycles of the Moon? Isn’t this why women’s “women’s days” shift by 4-5 days towards the beginning of the month?

In short, the Moon is a very strange object and does not behave as an ordinary piece of Rock above its head should. By the way, scientifically, the Moon is a satellite of the Earth. And the satellite can be either artificial(turned its dish-antenna towards us), or natural.

Let's become children for a minute. What about the fact that the Moon was built by previous civilizations? We don’t know this, but modern scientists don’t know how the Moon ended up in the sky. The version of a meteorite hitting the Earth is stupid. Because there is on the moon WATER . During an explosion, from a meteorite hitting the Earth, and then flying in a VACUUM, WATER not formed! So what's the joke then? Just imagine what it could be artificial sphere with its own light source.

We don't see the far side of the Moon, do we? And what's in there?

You : Imagined (fantasy), let the Moon be an artificial object, as in your version. Go ahead.

Evidence 3. During Moon Phases we see semicircle in heaven and during Lunar Eclipse we see semicircle a shadow, that is, it is given by a semicircular object, a “sphere/ball/disk”, whatever you want. How do you explain this?

PZ : These are 2 different phenomena: Lunar Phases and Lunar Eclipse.

Regarding Moon phases, when you have a crescent moon in the sky rather than a full moon, this is due to the lighting of the moon. The land has nothing to do with it. The moon is a ball-sphere, and a spherical body will be illuminated that way. For example, a “lamp” that is located BEHIND THE MOON. Will now beexperiment with iPhone 5.

Imagine that there is a lamp inside the Moon. And she turns around. Are these not the phases you will see?

As for the Lunar Eclipse, I already answered in the previous example. There is a third body or phenomenon that we do not yet know. For example, that the Moon has its own light source INSIDE, and a semicircular disk passes between the light and the surface, blocking the light. Moreover, its size can be thousands of times smaller than the Moon itself. You don't need the Sun for this.

By the way, the Moon does NOT reflect Sunlight, as official scientists say, but is the source of its OWN light, easy to install using this example. If you have a Sphere (ball), then we know perfectly well how light will be reflected from it. Like this.

I haven't seen a spot on the moon. And you?

You : Proof 4. Traveling around the world? If you sail or fly all the time to the East or to the West, you will arrive at the same point from where you started sailing. Doesn't this talk about the Round Earth?

PZ : A simple experiment. Take a plate of water, place a powerful magnet in the middle of the plate, lower a small boat with a compass there and move to the West. You move only to the West, and you will circumnavigate the world on a plate!

Here's tea with lemon. If a lemon wedge swirls around the center, leaving the peel towards the edge of the cup, it will " trip around the world"by your cup.

Schematically: You all the time moving to the WEST. Magnetic Compass shows all the time on North .

This is what a trip around the world looks like over a flat Earth.

This is what Ferdinand Magellan's journey around the Earth looked like in 1519-1522.

You: Evidence 5. If all body over our heads Round, then why should we think that ours Earth is Flat?

PZ : Here is a billiard table with Round Balls on it. The table, by your logic = Round?

You : The table is naturally flat,

Proof 6. Availability of time zones when in some parts of the planet it is Night, and in other parts of the Planet it is Day. How to explain? Isn't it the turning of the Round Earth?

PZ : No. What does this have to do with the twist? The sun moves over the surface of the Flat Earth, where it is bright. Where it is not there is Night.

Why doesn't the Sun illuminate the entire disk if it is at altitude? Very simple. Here's a light bulb that does NOT light up the entire wall. The wall is too big, just like the surface of the Earth.

LETTERING:

IF THE EARTH IS FLAT
why don't we see sunlight 24 hours a day?

Explanation:

For the same reason that a small lamp cannot illuminate an entire wall.

LIGHT SOURCE = SMALL + MOVING.

You : How do seasons work? Why is it cold in winter and hot in summer?

PZ : The sun moves from North to South throughout the year. When it’s hot here, the Sun moves along the Yellow trajectory close to the North Pole (Tropic of Cancer). When it’s cold here, it rotates along the Red trajectory (Tropic of Capricorn), far from the North Pole, but it’s hot in the Southern Hemisphere. And, yes, the Sun moves much faster in the Southern Hemisphere to make its 360 degrees in 24 hours.

The fact that we have Winter in December, and in Australia it is Summer, is shown by this picture. Christmas - December 21 in Australia is celebrated in Santa Claus costumes right on the beach.

You : Then let's not leave the Sun and the evidence for a Flat Earth. I'm interested in 2 more things: Polar day And Polar night. When it is light 24 hours a day and dark 24 hours a day. You know this phenomenon, right? In official science, this is explained by the tilt of the Earth by 24.5 degrees and the location of the Earth relative to the Sun.

PZ : Polar day- this is when the Sun does not set below the horizon for 24 hours. That is, it spins above the Horizon Line, approaching the horizon, but not disappearing below it.

Interestingly, photographs of the Polar Day and Night most often show from the North Pole, but very rarely are they shown from the South Pole. Do you know why? Because according to the Flat Earth theory, the Sun does not illuminate the South Pole 24 hours a day. But there are no problems with the North Pole.

Here's an example.

How to check the South Polar Day?

No way.

South Pole CLOSED to visitors, CLOSED for inspection. There are only government"scientific stations" and " military". Both the first and second ( government + military) are known as liars with a long, long history... It’s not for me to tell you. So there are only 2 options left:

1. At the South Pole there are no days when the Sun is 24 hours above the horizon.

2. At the South Pole there is a Polar Day, when the Sun is 24 hours above the horizon.

But even if it is indeed shown that there is a Polar Day in Antarctica, then we have a theory. It uses the concept of reflected light from a DOME. Schematically and mathematically it looks like this.

By the way, since they have already started talking about Antarctica, then our entire community is showing some kind of unhealthy interest in it. Earth Elite .

Chronicle for 2016:

1. February 12, 2016 Patriarch Kirill meets with the Pope. February 18, 2016 - urgently flies to Antarctica.
2. Beginning of March 2016 - US President Obama flies to Argentina, from where he travels for several days in Patagonia. The territory borders Antarctica, what he did for a couple of days is unknown. A NASA representative was with him on the delegation.
3. November 11-12, 2016 — US Secretary of State John Kerry 3 days after the elections in the USA - flies to Antarctica and is there, signing the next agreement , which prohibits the entry of fishing vessels into waters near Antarctica.

There is some strange stirring around the icy wastelands among politicians and religious leaders. Don't you find it?

But let's leave this aside. Let's return to the Sun and the evidence for a Flat Earth.

You: Interesting, but that comes later. Now m I am interested in the fact that the Sun should decrease in size if it is simply moving away from us, and not set beyond the horizon as a huge disk with the same dimensions. After all, you say that the Sun is simply moving overhead in a circular path.

PZ : Let's talk seriously about the Sun.

This video will be enough to prove that the Sun decreases in size, moving away from us in a straight line when it goes to the horizon. Taken from the observatory ABOVE cloud level. Link .

Now look here. You must understand that very often we see the Sun setting above the level of the Earth. Mountains, hills, obstacles, and buildings often block our view. And since they are much closer than the real horizon, you see how the large and round Sun hides behind the “visible” horizon, although in fact, it is just REMOVED in a straight line and DECREASES.

Decreases BEFORE the “convergence point”.

In this case, the “vanishing point” blocked by a mountain. Therefore, the Sun disappears from our view with a large disk, but still decreases along the way.

Here simple experiment As proof of the Flat Earth, you can make it at home. Stretch the string across the room so that it is the same height from wall to wall. Place obstacles in his way, such as a book or a board (in this video, these are 4 bottles of beer holding a cardboard), and so that the obstacle is below the thread. And then look at what it looks like from Earth level.

Get this is the “effect”.

The sun will move away from you, and BIG will go “beyond the visible horizon”, and not as a point. That's all. No turning of the Round Earth is necessary for this.

This experiment weren't you impressed?

Okay, then what about an obstacle on the horizon like iPhone 6? Camera on the ground distance of 110 meters from the camera to the person? Consider that in our case IPHONE IS A MOUNTAIN.

A MAN IS SEEN BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN.

You : And the last question about the Sun and Moon - how do they fly in a sideways orbit? What keeps them in the sky?

PZ : Magnetic levitation. Here are working magnetic levitation devices.

Lamp ,
computer mouse,
armchair sofa ,
Maglev train on magnetic levitation.

This, by the way, explains ebb and flow on the ground. Water is repelled by magnets ! And the Moon and the Sun = sources of magnetic background, so they are simply “ part the water» under you, and she runs ashore. Gravity here, as always, is superfluous. There are ebbs and flows only in the Oceans and Seas with salt water, which are in the path of the Sun and Moon.

At home, check how ordinary tap water reacts to a comb. Just before doing this, run it through your hair to transmit the electric shock.

There is regular fresh water in the tap! And sea water reacts even better to electricity. There's SOOOOOOOOOOL!

Ebbs and flows have nothing to do with the gravity of the MOON. Because most Gravity doesn't exist at all. This is Newton's fantasy and fictitious force to describe the world and facts at the beginning of the 19th century. This is what the electromagnetic repulsion of the Moon and Water looks like. Schematically.

You:Evidence 7. Satellite photos? Photos from above? Will you still say that the Earth is Flat?

PZ: Have you heard about special effects in photography? And fisheye lenses, right? These lenses bend the image greatly to cover a larger area. Here are some examples:

1. Real Round walls? Below = no distortion.

4. Round subway cars.

5. The church spire bows to the building on the right

6. The square bends...

Horizon = Curvature.

Is this what proof of a spherical Earth looks like?

Now returning to Space and the ISS. Here is a photo from 2008. Where is NASA admits , that the pictures are taken through a fisheye lens. These lenses are located at the MIR station. Come in and check it out.

Here is the same photo in Wikipedia , where it is said that the curvature of the Earth is due to the “Fish Eye”.

Why use if the earth is Round?

That's right, to bend a flat image, like proof of curvature.

Although all the photos, without corrections, tell us the opposite. Earth - Flat! From any height!

You : Proof 8. Sharovers claim that with height we see further, because we see BEYOND the horizon.

PZ : An absolutely stupid argument from the Sharovers (like all the others, by the way). Why?

Because

Here is an example - a flat lawn near a house. If you place the camera at ground level and move away from it, you " disappear over the horizon". Is this proof that a flat field suddenly has a curvature? No. Link to video .

You : I like this explanation. Accurate and with evidence.

Evidence 9. Still, what about satellites? Communications / satellite TV / GPS? How are they explained on Flat Earth?

PZ : Communication between continents without wires existed long before satellites. The first transatlantic radio communication was successfully made in 1906, from Brant Rock, USA to Machree, Scotland. No one had heard about satellites for the next 50 years, but the continents ALREADY communicated with each other.

Today, 99% of all Internet traffic travels through undersea ocean cables between continents, rather than via satellites.

Satellite dishes on houses are only called "satellite" because they all face the Horizon, NOT the sky, at a 90% angle. You see such antennas every day on houses and roofs, right? Do they look vertically UP, INTO THE SKY at the satellite?

Or —————————> TO the horizon?

"These antennas" receive ordinary radio signals from ordinary transmitting towers standing on the ground, but not from Space. Is the antenna tilt clearly visible?

What you see with your own eyes on houses is called “ tropospheric» radio communication.

The distance of “tropospheric radio communication” is 300-800 km. The signal bounces off the ionosphere. What modern scientists call the “Ionosphere,” I call the “Dome.” This is a dome over the Flat Earth that bounces radio waves down to Earth.

And everything that is less than 300-800 km can be covered with additional 300 meter towers, as in the pictures below. The signal “to the dish” comes from radio towers.

Do you recognize these 200-300 m high engineering creations?

Why do you need satellites for TV? Everything works without them.

You: And what's about GPS and Flat Earth?

PZ: GPS - Global Positioning System. Its only purpose is to convince you that it " GLOBAL “, that is = GLOBE, that is, BALL! How does it work?

In cities, it works at the expense of mobile phone towers. And 3 towers are enough to determine your location exactly down to the meter. It is called - Triangulation .

Outside cities, there is a regular radio network with powerful towers that cover most of the Earth. First used during World War II for navigation of ships and planes, when no one had heard of satellites the next 20 years... The accuracy of identifying a ship at sea is 150 meters at a range of 1,500 KM! Name - LORAN And DECCA. Come in and check it out.

Here's the tower LORAN 190 meters high in Canada.

In 2000 they were renamed GPS and stuck it in your mobile phone with beautiful maps. The system is controlled by the American military, but you will never know how it actually works. Just like you won’t find out why the nuclear-powered icebreaker “KURSK” sank, and how many full-time Russian military personnel died in Donbass and Syria. The military will always lie.

As you understand, positioning systems worked successfully BEFORE the advent of even the idea... SATELLITES...

You: Does anyone else know about this theory?

PZ : Everybody knows. This is not a secret. For example, NASA in its calculations and models of aircraft flight in the air uses the model of a FLAT and NON-ROTATING Earth.

That is, future pilots are taught on models that have never heard of the need to take into account curvature, or that the surface of the Earth rotates underneath them. Why? Because it doesn't really exist.

You can download the document itself . E it is written on the first page in the first paragraph.

Here is another document for FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, USA), which states that flight simulation software should be as close to reality as possible for high-quality training of pilots in the air and training of controllers on the ground. Therefore, everything should be exactly in calculations.

Here various situations and behavior of an airplane in the sky are played out. "The Engineering Analysis and Design of the Aircraft Dynamics Model For the FAA Target Generation Facility." You can download it.

On page 32 it is written in plain text: “ We we do not take into account the rotation of the Earth, and the flight passes above the FLAT Earth«.

Simulation as close to reality as possible, right?

So what is our Reality then, dear pilots?

Official maps?

Here is the official one flat earth map for a wide range of users. Created in 1892 year, a paper copy is stored in the library of Boston, USA. What's interesting about it?

3 moment!

Moment 1 : Immediately at the top of the card it is written in large letters

"AS IT IS"

what does " In fact »

Moment 2: Right and Left says: " scientifically correct« (scientifically and ) And " almost correct« (practically correct). Seriously

Moment 3. At the bottom of the map it is indicated how the Sun moves in June and December. Where do they come from? June 21 and December 21.

Solstice of June.

« The white oval shows the location of the Sun in the Tropic of Cancer, in June, at noon. This causes 24 hours of sunshine in the Polar Regions (Polar Day). After June 21, the Sun begins to spiral south until it reaches its final point on December 21«

December Solstice.

« On December 21, the Sun moves across the Tropic of Capricorn, and as it moves, it illuminates the southern part of the Antarctic ice. There is no light below 80º South latitude, there are only unexplored regions of ice. On December 23, the Sun completes its movement to the South and begins to move back to the North Pole, ending its season.”

In addition, all the most serious organizations in the world such as the UN - the United Nations, ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization, IMO - International Maritime Organization, WMO - World Meteorological Organization use the Flat Earth map. Irony, true?

Organizations controlling globe,
use Flat Earth map..

The million dollar question: “Can you find Antarctica here”?

Pilots.

Sailors.

Climatologists.

Have you found Antarctica?

And it is considered the 6th continent of the Earth, actually...

Google showed the original drawing for the Winter Solstice . So, by the way. Nothing special here.

2. Question 2. What experiment was carried out to reveal Gravity? - Answer . There is nothing to test here, Gravity does not exist, it is a fictitious force that exists only on paper.

3. Question 3. How does water in the oceans bend in an arc? - Answer . No way. The water in the oceans is horizontal, from the North Pole to Antarctica.

4. Question 4. Is the curvature of the Earth taken into account when constructing long bridges, rails, shipping canals and pipelines? - Answer . No, it is not taken into account, because there is no curvature. There is only height.

5. Question 5 . Physics of the XXI century. Standard model elementary particles of our Universe (in short, how everything works in the world) includes only 3 forces: electromagnetic, weak and strong interaction, DOES NOT include gravity in its calculations. - Answer . He does the right thing by not turning it on, because gravity doesn’t exist.

6 . Question 6. How did the Vacuum of Space not suck out the Atmosphere? - Answer . Atmosphere protected by the Dome.

7. Question 7. Why doesn't gravity attract clouds? - Answer . There are different densities of air near the Earth and air at altitude.

9. Question 9. How rivers (water) can flow UP? - Answer . They can’t and you know it. Water always flows down.

10. Question 10. Why do planes fly so strangely?- Answer .

Regarding the first example, a flight from Bali to Los Angeles landed in Alaska. Here Flat Earth map and a straight line between the two cities.

Regarding routes through Antarctica. Where should we fly?

Flying in a circle? From Africa to Australia - there won't be enough fuel. From South America to Australia - there won't be enough fuel. From Africa to South America - there won't be enough fuel. Keep in mind that Antarctica circles a distance much greater than the equator. And our equator itself is 40,000 km in circumference!

But, flying in a straight line like this is the way to go!

Therefore, no one will run optical Internet cables from Africa to Australia and South America. It's SOOO far away. Red zones are empty.

You : OK then. Governments know that the Earth is Flat. They have evidence of a flat Earth, a map of a Flat Earth, then what is the benefit of hiding the truth?

PZ : Because there will be a disaster in science.

No Gravity = No Globe = No Rotation = No Big Bang = No millions of galaxies, planets and stars = No aliens = No Evolution = No connecting link between living organisms and humans = Is this enough to remain silent about the shape of the Earth?

Gravity is a Religion for Scientists. Everything that cannot be explained clearly is explained by the mysterious word Gravity. From RELIGIONS DO NOT REFUSE!

Why is the Earth round? — Gravity .
Why don't people fly away from the spinning Earth? - Gravity .
Why doesn't water fly away from the surface of the Earth and collect at the Equator, where the maximum speed is? - Gravity .
Why is the Moon in the Sky? - Gravity .

Replace the word " Gravity"word" God «, and get the same result. Level explanations " ZERO «.

Why is the Earth round? — God decided so .
Why don't people fly away from the spinning Earth? — God decided so.
Why doesn't water collect at the Equator, where the maximum speed is? — God decided so .
Why is the Moon in the Sky? — God decided so.

I'll tell you by secret:

« Gravity is the force that attracts the absurd«.

Do you know why?

Because after Newton came up with Gravity, Science has developed this way for the last 300 years.

Scientists realized thattheory of gravity will lead to a singularity (the entire Universe will eventually shrink to a point) then they came up with"Dark Energy". This is, in principle, Anti-Gravity. But, as a result of further calculations of the formulas, they realized that the expansion"Dark Energy" will lead to a rupture of Einstein’s “space-time” itself, and then they came up with"Dark Matter" which should balance"Gravitons" of gravity and "Dark Energy".

Before us is an imaginary force, which should explain another imaginary force, and so time after time, when the formulas don't stick.

But in fact: “Gravitons” do not exist, hence Dark Energy does not exist, hence Dark Matter does not exist. And when you are forced to believe in things that exist only on paper and in dreams, then this is not science, this is -"MAGIC".

Therefore, physics for 2017 has hit its forehead against the wall and is waiting for a new Prophet who will explain what and how. Without “gravities” and other “magical entities”.

What do we need?

And we need other answers to questions as old as the world: “Who are we?” and “What have they forgotten here?” Without “magic”, “gravity” and “ape-man theories”.

ORIGIN OF THE WORLD:

1. Divine version of the world. You've heard about it, the world in 6 days. According to the Bible.

2. Version - Big Bang with Evolution proposed priest Georges Lemaitre)) and Darwin.

“There was NOTHING, then suddenly nothing happened to this NOTHING and NOTHING exploded! Then everything that exploded and scattered NOTHING magically transformed itself into matter and living particles, which also magically learned to copy themselves, multiply... And then there were dinosaurs...

How do you like this theory from the Catholics from the Vatican? It is considered official “in science” for 2017. Seriously!

More options?

3. The most obvious is theory., O which we wrote quite recently. We live in the Matrix (Digital Universe), and it seems that this is a game for our distant descendants, for example children 2100. People of the Future play games of the Past. How we play computer games about Greece, Feudalism and the Middle Ages. And our descendants play us - with 100% immersion in the virtual reality of the Past. No matter how fantastic it sounds.

All in all.

PS: You won't be able to drag your Flat Earth theory into official science. She's absurd.
2904 votes 72%

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People have long known that the Earth is round, and they are finding more and more new ways to show that our world is not flat. And yet, even in 2016, there are quite a few people on the planet who firmly believe that the Earth is not round. These are scary people, they tend to believe in conspiracy theories, and it's hard to argue with them. But they do exist. So is the Flat Earth Society. It becomes funny just thinking about their possible arguments. But the history of our species was interesting and quirky, even firmly established truths were refuted. You don't have to resort to complicated formulas to dispel the flat Earth conspiracy theory.

Just look around and check ten times: the Earth is definitely, inevitably, completely and absolutely not 100% flat.

Today people already know that the Moon is not a piece of cheese or a playful deity, and the phenomena of our satellite are well explained by modern science. But the ancient Greeks had no idea what it was, and in their search for an answer, they made some insightful observations that allowed people to determine the shape of our planet.

Aristotle (who made quite a few observations about the spherical nature of the Earth) noted that during lunar eclipses (when the Earth's orbit places the planet exactly between the Sun and the Moon, creating a shadow), the shadow on the lunar surface is circular. This shadow is the Earth, and the shadow cast by it directly indicates the spherical shape of the planet.

Since the Earth rotates (look up the Foucault pendulum experiment if in doubt), the oval shadow that appears during each lunar eclipse indicates not only that the Earth is round, but also not flat.

Ships and horizon

If you've been in port recently, or just strolled along the beach, looking at the horizon, you may have noticed a very interesting phenomenon: approaching ships don't just "emerge" from the horizon (as they would if the world were flat), but rather emerge from the sea. The reason that ships literally “come out of the waves” is because our world is not flat, but round.

Imagine an ant walking along the surface of an orange. If you look at an orange from a close distance, with your nose to the fruit, you will see how the ant's body slowly rises above the horizon due to the curvature of the orange's surface. If you do this experiment with a long road, the effect will be different: the ant will slowly “materialize” into your field of view, depending on how sharp your vision is.

Change of constellations

This observation was first made by Aristotle, who declared the Earth to be round by observing the change of constellations when crossing the equator.

Returning from a trip to Egypt, Aristotle noted that “stars are observed in Egypt and Cyprus that were not seen in the northern regions.” This phenomenon can only be explained by the fact that people look at the stars from a round surface. Aristotle continued and stated that the sphere of the Earth “is of small size, for otherwise the effect of such a slight change of terrain would not have manifested itself so quickly.”

Shadows and sticks

If you stick a stick into the ground, it will provide shade. The shadow moves as time passes (based on this principle, ancient people invented sundials). If the world were flat, two sticks in different places would produce the same shadow.

But this doesn't happen. Because the Earth is round, not flat.

Eratosthenes (276–194 BC) used this principle to calculate the circumference of the Earth with good accuracy.

The higher you go, the farther you can see

Standing on a flat plateau, you look towards the horizon away from you. You strain your eyes, then take out your favorite binoculars and look through them as far as your eyes can see (using binocular lenses).

Then you climb the nearest tree - the higher the better, the main thing is not to drop your binoculars. And again look, straining your eyes, through binoculars to the horizon.

The higher you climb, the further you will see. Usually we tend to associate this with obstacles on Earth, when the forest is not visible for the trees, and freedom is not visible for the concrete jungle. But if you stand on a perfectly clear plateau, with no obstacles between you and the horizon, you will see much more from above than from the ground.

It's all about the curvature of the Earth, of course, and this wouldn't happen if the Earth were flat.

Flying an airplane

If you've ever flown out of the country, especially somewhere far away, you might have noticed two interesting facts about airplanes and the Earth:

Planes can fly in a relatively straight line for a very long time without falling off the edge of the world. They can also fly around the Earth without stopping.

If you look out the window on a transatlantic flight, most of the time you will see the curvature of the earth on the horizon. The best kind of curvature was on the Concorde, but that plane is long gone. From Virgin Galactic's new plane, the horizon should be completely curved.

Look at other planets!

The Earth is different from others, and that is undeniable. After all, we have life, and we have not yet found planets with life. However, all planets have similar characteristics, and it would be logical to assume that if all planets behave in a certain way or exhibit specific properties - especially if the planets are separated by distance or formed under different circumstances - then our planet is similar.

In other words, if there are so many planets that formed in different places and under different conditions, but have similar properties, most likely our planet will be one. From our observations, it became clear that the planets are round (and since we knew how they formed, we know why they are shaped that way). There's no reason to think our planet won't be the same.

In 1610, Galileo Galilei observed the rotation of the moons of Jupiter. He described them as small planets orbiting a large planet - a description (and observation) that the church did not like because it challenged the geocentric model in which everything revolved around the Earth. This observation also showed that the planets (Jupiter, Neptune, and later Venus) are spherical and revolve around the Sun.

A flat planet (ours or any other) would be so incredible to observe that it would overturn almost everything we know about the formation and behavior of planets. This will not only change everything we know about the formation of planets, but also about the formation of stars (since our Sun must behave differently to accommodate the flat Earth theory), the speed and movement of cosmic bodies. In short, we don't just suspect that our Earth is round - we know it.

The existence of time zones

In Beijing it is now 12 midnight, no sun. It's 12 noon in New York. The sun is at its zenith, although it is difficult to see under the clouds. It's one thirty in the morning in Adelaide, Australia. The sun will not rise very soon.

This could only be explained by the fact that the Earth is round and rotates around its own axis. At a certain point, when the sun is shining on one part of the Earth, it is dark on the other end, and vice versa. This is where time zones come into play.

Another point. If the sun were a "spotlight" (its light shining directly on a specific area) and the world was flat, we would see the sun even if it wasn't shining above us. In much the same way, you can see the light of a spotlight on a theater stage while remaining in the shadows. The only way to create two completely separate time zones, one of which will always be in the dark and the other in the light, is to have a spherical world.

Center of gravity

There's an interesting fact about our mass: it attracts things. The force of attraction (gravity) between two objects depends on their mass and the distance between them. Simply put, gravity will pull toward the center of mass of objects. To find the center of mass, you need to study the object.

Imagine a sphere. Because of the shape of the sphere, no matter where you stand, there will be the same amount of sphere underneath you. (Imagine an ant walking on a glass ball. From the ant's point of view, the only sign of movement will be the movement of the ant's legs. The shape of the surface will not change at all). The center of mass of a sphere is at the center of the sphere, meaning gravity pulls everything on the surface towards the center of the sphere (straight down), regardless of the object's location.

Let's consider a plane. The center of mass of the plane is at the center, so the force of gravity will pull everything on the surface towards the center of the plane. This means that if you are on the edge of the plane, gravity will pull you towards the center, and not down, as we are used to.

And even in Australia, apples fall from top to bottom, not from side to side.

Photos from space

Over the past 60 years of space exploration, we have launched many satellites, probes, and people into space. Some of them returned, some continue to remain in orbit and transmit beautiful images to Earth. And in all the photographs the Earth (attention) is round.

If your child asks how we know the Earth is round, take the trouble to explain.

The fact that our planet is round was again doubted in the 19th century, and the flat Earth theory still has followers. They reject scientific facts and firmly believe that our planet is shaped like a plate with rounded edges. “Flat-earthers” have found themselves in the spotlight online: American rapper B.o.b. decided to launch his satellite and prove to everyone that he was lying. Another sensational film arrived on time. Especially for the Memepedia project, I figured out why the Internet never tires of laughing at people who refuse to believe that our planet is round.

Rap against everyone

One of the most ardent supporters of the flat Earth theory is American rapper B.o.b (Bobby Ray Simmons Jr.). In late September, he announced a fundraising effort on the crowdfunding platform Go Fund Me to launch "one or more" space satellites. The musician believes that photographs of our planet taken by NASA are fake, and is ready to prove it.

To “expose” the musician first asked for 200 thousand dollars, but as soon as he realized the full virality of his intention, he raised the bar to a million. At the time of writing, he had received just over six thousand dollars in donations.

“Instead of just launching one or more satellites into space, I will become the founder of a foundation. It is necessary to conduct any available experiments using balloons, drones and even radars,” - stated rapper B.o.b.

Bobby became interested in the flat earth theory last year. He posted it in his Twitter photo against the skyline and wrote: “Cities in background are approximately 16 miles (25 kilometers - approx. "Tapes.ru") from each other... Where is the bend? Please explain this."

Frame: Big Think / YouTube

True, in the end the specialist admitted that the rapper’s lag of 500 years in these considerations does not in any way affect his musical abilities.

A spat with a scientist inspired the musician to make a track Flatline, in which he stated that "you have managed to fool us for the last time."

“Why is NASA part of ?
They divided the seas by 33 degrees,
They feed the children Freemasonry, bro, be careful what you read"

Famous astronauts tried to dissuade the “flat-earther”. NASA astronaut Terry Werts, who has been in space twice, presented his arguments; Apollo 11 pilot and second man on the moon Buzz Aldrin and Scott Kelly, who flew into space four times and, together with Russian Mikhail Kornienko, set a record for staying on the ISS. But Bobby remained adamant.

The rapper's attacks on the shape of the planet cause controversy among both his fans and haters. No one understands whether Bobby really believes in a flat Earth or whether this is all part of the performer's PR campaign.

Shock and sensation from REN TV

An episode of the program “The Most Shocking Hypotheses” dedicated to the flat Earth was shown on REN TV on September 25. The program includes clippings from an interview with former NASA employee Matthew Boylan: he claims that he was informed about the “real” shape of the Earth almost immediately after being hired.

“I thought they were testing my sense of humor to see if I was stupid. But no, they weren’t joking,” Boylan assured viewers.

According to him, in “real” photographs the Earth looks flat, like in the logo, but it is profitable for NASA to hide the truth. The second “expert” in the REN TV film is amateur physicist from Great Britain Dave Murphy. According to him, the curvature of the Earth is a fictitious indicator that is not taken into account when plotting airplane routes.

A Russian astrologer believes that a view of Chicago from a distance of almost 100 kilometers is convincing evidence that the Earth is flat. We are talking about a video by photographer Joshua Nowinski, who photographed an American city from the opposite shore of Lake Michigan. Due to the curvature of the Earth, the city should have disappeared beyond the horizon, but it is visible thanks to the so-called “superior mirage”: the difference in the temperature of air flows allows the object to be reflected and visible at a great distance.

REN TV experts claim that photographs of our planet from space are taken with fish-eye lenses, and that is why objects in the frame look rounded.

According to supporters of the flat Earth idea, it is beneficial for modern science to support the belief in a round planet, because billions are allocated to the space industry.

Social networks reacted to the program with sincere bewilderment. Some wrote angry messages, while others simply laughed. Over the course of a few days, a new trend emerged on Russian-language Twitter: with the help of jokes about the flat Earth, users began to convey their mood or attitude to any topic.

Quite unexpectedly, one who usually takes a conservative position and works closely with religious organizations joined the ranks of the defenders of science. In the commentary, Tsargrad accused his colleagues of chasing sensations.

“Flat-earthers” versus “sharovers”

Russia also has its own adherents of the flat Earth theory. Their beliefs are in most cases based on the Bible, and they call the modern structure of the world “pseudoscience.”

“The Bible gives us a clear and clear picture of the world order. Modern science, financed by Masonic circles, denies this picture and substitutes its own, designed to confuse minds. A choice appears before us - who are we with? With God and the Bible or with the Freemasons and their pseudoscience,” says the description of the largest group "Flat Earth Society" on VKontakte.

On the RuNet, the main proponent of the flat Earth theory is schoolboy Maxim Ozherelyev from Miass, Chelyabinsk region. The 13-year-old teenager broadcast his thoughts about a flat planet for a long time on his YouTube channel and VKontakte. At the end of June 2017, the recordings began to attract more attention and criticism, and as a result, the boy deleted all of his videos.

A copy of one of the records not only preserved, but also became a popular meme thanks to the word “sharo***” (an obscene version of the words “sharovers” and “balloon lovers”) - this is how Maxim called everyone who believes in the round shape of our planet. The term “flat earthers” (a collective designation for members of the Flat Earth Society) also became widely known after his video.

The teenager argues his beliefs by the fact that during a jump a person does not land in a new place, although the Earth rotates at a speed of 400 meters per second.

The meme about “sharo**s” was loved by netizens and was at the peak of popularity all summer, and Maxim’s face became recognizable.

Now Ozherelev is no longer involved in popularizing the flat Earth theory, as he stated in the latest video on his channel.