After Renaissance, spring wind of science blew on continent of Europe. After that, people gradually believed in "round earth theory" and abandoned "flat earth theory". After founding of China, "round earth theory" really became widely known. In modern context, term "flat earth theory" often represents "backward thinking, self-deception and rejection of reality." The West has ridiculed Chinese for believing in "flat earth theory" in modern times. However, it is puzzling that as a scientific model of China to learn from in our time, there are still many people in Europe and United States who believe in anti-intellectual "flat earth theory" to this day. Even open organization "International Association flat earth".

A 2018 survey of Americans found that proportion of people who believe Earth is round decreases with increasing age groups. 94% of people over 55 believe earth is round. Only 66% of 18-year-olds - up to 24-year-old group known as millennials, or 34 percent - aren't sure if Earth is round. Among them, there are some famous people who believe in "flat earth theory" and publicly acknowledge it, such as NBA superstar Kyrie Irving, female star Tila Tequila and so on. This year, hundreds of "flat earth advocates" gathered in UK for world's first "flat earth conference", believing that model of Earth should be a closed plane centered on North Pole, and edge of this plane (the South Pole) represents a towering wall of ice.

In 2020, Mike "Madman" Hughes (see image below), Horizon member, folk rocket enthusiast and protagonist of Rocket Man documentary, once drove a 3-ton car. set a Guinness record by flying 31 meters. He has received many sponsorships from Flat Earth Organization. Last year, he once again took to skies a homemade steam rocket. The rocket was printed with inscription "Explore flat earth" - study of flat earth. and eventually crashed and died.

When searching for current news in Europe and America, there are an endless number of types of news, which inevitably makes people think. "The earth is round" has long been proven by science. This is common sense in common sense. People have seen round Earth in space with their own eyes. Does anyone still believe in flat earth theory?

It is said that as far back as 5th century BC, ancient Greek philosophers believed that earth was round. Two centuries later, Greek mathematician Eratosthenes first estimated circumference of earth. His view was taken forward and he listed six evidences for roundness of earth, such as "looking at sailboats in Mediterranean, they always see top of mast first and then hull", "when a lunar eclipse happens, earth is projected onto moon The edge of shadow is curved ”, etc. Of course, there is no way to check whether these results of studies of Ancient Greece are true or not, because results of studies of Ancient Greece and process of inheritance of classics are too amazing.

Although ancient Greek philosophers had already determined that earth was round, until 16th century in Europe they generally believed that earth was flat. The round earth is flat, sky above earth is shrouded, and there is a ferocious flood outside sky. Chapter 7 describes earth: "I saw four men standing at four corners of earth." In 16th century, Copernicus founded heliocentric theory. At that time, church panicked because church supported geocentric theory, and model of geocentric theory is that earth is flat, and sun and moon rise in east and set in west, which is like round sky in China. The appearance of heliocentric theory denies geocentric theory and shook authority of church, so Bruno, a student of Copernicus who defended heliocentric theory, was burned alive in 1600. In other words, under influence of church, Europe for a long time believed that earth was flat.

However, Magellan's circumnavigation of world in 16th century proved for first time that Earth was indeed round, as well as rise of science and decline of ecclesiastical authority. After 17th century, West generally believed that Earth was round. Expand circle said.

With increase in number of travel around world and further development of science, people have a huge amount of evidence supporting theory of a round Earth. However, some people in Europe and United States have always believed in anti-intellectual "flat earth" theory. theory”, and even seriously conducted related scientific experiments.

In 19th century, a group of capable people appeared among supporters of theory of flat Earth, who either wrote books or advocated "Bible", revived already collapsed theory of flat Earth.

Representative of this period is British inventor Samuel Rabsham, who founded discipline called Zetetic astronomy, which modeled Earth as a closed plane centered on North Pole. The Daily is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can prove it. The earth rotates around its axis. In his book "Review of Astronomy", he deliberately used effect of perspective in paintings to explain phenomenon of disappearance of ships on horizon, and also published many results of experiments to test curvature of water surface. In short, he disproved round earth theory and proved flat earth theory.

Rabotam was a very influential man, and William Carpenter was a strong supporter of him. In 1885 he published "100 proofs that earth is not spherical". After Rabsham's death, in 1895, Mrs. Elizabeth Blount founded International Research Association in London, published journal "Earth Aspherical Review", in which she asserted that "The Bible is unquestionable authority, and earthling is not only Christ" .

In addition to Rabsham and his supporters, there were many supporters of flat earth theory. The scientists argued for three nights, and finally, five citizens who acted as arbitrators unanimously declared Flanders winner.

Early in 20th century, flat-earth theorists conducted serious experiments, most typical of which was the Bedford level experiment. The Englishman Robotan sailed in a small boat with a flag on straight river Old Bedford (pictured above). The distance between flag and ground was about 0.9 meters. After boat has traveled about 10 kilometers, Rob Tan discovers that ship can still be seen, so he decides that round earth theory is doomed to be a hoax, earth is flat! Of course, it's actually because ship didn't go far enough. No matter how it is explained scientifically, this experiment became an important scientific experiment proving "flat earth theory" and there are still people who believe in it.

During Second World War, people had a huge fleet of fighter planes that could observe Earth from high altitudes. The circle of earth theory received additional and more intuitive evidence, but Samuel Shenton, Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society and Royal Geographical Society of United Kingdom, But he insisted on theory of a flat Earth, thinking that Earth is a disk-shaped plane centered on North Pole and South Pole - just an insurmountable ice wall. Ocean floor. Later, in 1956, "International Flat Earth Association" was formed. In 1957, Soviet Union launched first artificial satellite of Earth, a few years later Gagarin made world's first manned space flight, and then United States, Great Britain, France and other countries successively published images of Earth taken from space. so-called pictures have truth, Deeping said it's time to shut up. However, Samuel Shenton believed that photographs of Earth sent from space by United States and Soviet Union were deceptive, "easily fooled by untrained eye".

Before he died, Shenton chose Charles Kenneth Johnson (pictured above), an American Christian, as his successor. He said that he denies such concepts as gravity and gravity, and believes that space program of United Union was a complete hoax, "Charles Lindbergh proved that Earth is flat", "the so-called claim that Earth rotates is a conspiracy of some people and Apollo moon landing was a conspiracy. and others. During Johnson period, International Flat Earth Association had 3,500 members at its peak.

Since 21st century, Flat Earth theory has not only not declined, but has more and more supporters. Today there is a reorganized "International Association for Study of Theory of Flat Earth" and a newly created "International Association for Study of Theory of Flat Earth". Flat Earth Alliance" by Davidson, Christian.

According to traditional knowledge, Europe and United States are developed regions, people have high scientific literacy, and anti-intellectual "flat earth theory" should not be popular, so why do many still believe that earth is flat?

First of all, Dr. Jennifer Beckett, a European and American academic, believes that part of reason is general shift towards popularism and people's mistrust of experts and mainstream media. That is, some young people are looking for excitement, and European and American experts and media do not allow them to trust them, so they believe in flat earth theory, contrary to conventional wisdom.

Secondly, English is not very conducive to popularization of science, today there are more than 2 million words in English language, and number of words mastered by ordinary people is even less than 10,000 popular science articles. The lack of language has raised threshold of knowledge so that some ordinary people cannot tell whether earth is flat or round by in-depth reading.

Third, since many people in Europe and United States still believe in Bible and Christianity and are fanatical believers, they naturally consider Bible to be standard. In fact, majority of European and American flat earthers since 19th century are Christian believers. In China, however, imperial power has always been higher than divine power, there is no religious burden between round earth theory and flat earth theory, and only believe in scientific truth.

After entering 21st century, Europe and United States still have technological advantages, but at same time, many "anti-intellectual" behaviors are also common in Europe and United States, including belief in the theory of a flat earth. , start sign.