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EspañolFLAT EARTH SOCIETY
A rendered picture of the Flat Earth model.
The 'Flat Earth Society' is an organization first based in England and later in Lancaster, California that advocates the discredited Flat Earth hypothesis. Like the term "flat earther", the Flat Earth Society has entered colloquial use to describe those who demonstrate dogmatic thinking in rejecting changes in the scientific consensus..
Origins of the flat Earth movement
The contemporary flat earth movement originated with an eccentric English inventor, Samuel Rowbotham (1816-1884). Based on his literal interpretation of certain biblical passages, Rowbotham published a 16-page pamphlet, which he later expanded into a 430 page book ''Earth Not a Globe'' expounding his views. According to Rowbotham's system, which he called "Zetetic Astronomy", the earth is a flat disk centered at the North Pole and bounded along its southern edge by a wall of ice, with the sun and moon 3000 miles and the "cosmos" 3100 miles above earth.
Rowbotham and his followers gained notoriety by engaging in raucous public debates with leading scientists of the day. One such clash, involving the prominent naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, led to several lawsuits for fraud and libel.
After Rowbotham's death, his followers established the ''Universal Zetetic Society'', published a magazine entitled ''The Earth Not a Globe Review'' and remained active well into the early part of the 20th century. After World War I, the movement underwent a slow decline.
In the United States Rowbotham's ideas were taken up by a religious cult, the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church. Founded by a Scottish faith healer, John Alexander Dowie, in 1895, the church established the theocratic community of Zion, Illinois on the shore of Lake Michigan forty miles (seventy kilometers) north of Chicago. In 1906, Dowie was deposed as leader of the cult by his lieutenant, Wilbur Glenn Voliva. Voliva ruled his some 6000 followers with an iron hand, allegedly exploiting their labor in the church-run corporation, Zion Industries. The flat earth doctrine was exclusively taught in community schools. Voliva was a pioneer in religious radio broadcasting. Listeners to his 100,000-watt (100 KW) radio station were treated to thundering denunciations of the evils of evolution and round earth astronomy. Voliva died in 1942 and the church disintegrated under a cloud of financial scandals. A few die-hard flat earth supporters persisted in Zion into the 1950s.
Flat Earth from space
In 1956, the Flat Earth Society found itself under scrutiny. There were various photographs of the earth from space and later the moon. Member Samuel Shenton remarked: "It's easy to see how a photograph like that could fool the untrained eye." The society took the position that the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax, staged by Hollywood and based on a script by Arthur C. Clarke, a position also held by some others not connected to the Flat Earth Society (see Apollo moon landing hoax accusations). In a March 2001 message to a friend, Clarke facetiously responded to the society's claims as follows: "I've written to [former NASA director] Dan Goldin saying I was never paid for this work and unless he does something quickly he'll be hearing from my killer lawyers, Geldsnatch, Geldsnatch & Blubberclutch."[1]
Charles K. Johnson
In 1971, Shenton died and Charles K. Johnson became the new president of the Flat Earth Society. Under his leadership, over the next three decades, the group grew in size from a few members to about 3,000. Johnson distributed newsletters, flyers, maps and other promotional material to anyone who asked for them, and he managed all membership applications together with his wife, Marjory, who was also a flat-earther.
The most recent world model propagated by the Flat Earth Society holds that humans live on a disc, with the North Pole at its center and a 150-foot (~46 meter) high wall of ice at the outer edge. The resulting map resembles the symbol of the United Nations, something Johnson used as evidence for his position. In this model, the sun and moon are each a mere 32 miles (52 km) in diameter.
A newsletter from the society gives some insight into Johnson's thinking:
: ''Aim: To carefully observe, think freely rediscover forgotten fact and oppose theoretical dogmatic assumptions. To help establish the United States...of the world on this flat earth. Replace the science religion...with SANITY''
: ''The International Flat Earth Society is the oldest continuous Society existing on the world today. It began with the Creation of the Creation. First the water...the face of the deep...without form or limits...just Water. Then the Land sitting in and on the Water, the Water then as now being flat and level, as is the very Nature of Water. There are, of course, mountains and valleys on the Land but since most of the World is Water, we say, "The World is Flat". Historical accounts and spoken history tell us the Land part may have been square, all in one mass at one time, then as now, the magnetic north being the Center. Vast cataclysmic events and shaking no doubt broke the land apart, divided the Land to be our present continents or islands as they exist today. One thing we know for sure about this world...the known inhabited world is Flat, Level, a Plain World.''
: ''We maintain that what is called 'Science' today and 'scientists' consist of the same old gang of witch doctors, sorcerers, tellers of tales, the 'Priest-Entertainers' for the common people. 'Science' consists of a weird, way-out occult concoction of gibberish theory-theology...unrelated to the real world of facts, technology and inventions, tall buildings and fast cars, airplanes and other Real and Good things in life; technology is not in any way related to the web of idiotic scientific theory. ALL inventors have been anti-science. The Wright brothers said: "Science theory held us up for years. When we threw out all science, started from experiment and experience, then we invented the airplane." By the way, airplanes all fly level on this Plane earth.''
Charles Johnson died on March 19, 2001, leaving the fate of the Flat Earth Society uncertain.
Physics of a Flat Earth
The modern Flat Earth Society describes the Earth as being a disk with a circumference of about 78225 miles and a diameter of 24900 miles. The sun and moon are both disks about 32 miles in diameter (though some sources say that the sun and moon are spheres) and are about 3000 miles above the Earth, and the stars about 100 miles above the sun and moon.
The Flat Earth Society also maintains that the Earth is accelerating upward at a rate of 9.8 m/s², thereby simulating gravity. This upward momentum is caused by the "Universal Accelerator", a vague term used by the Society to describe a force that originated at the Big Bang and caused the Earth to speed upwards. Gravity cannot exist on a flat Earth since the disc shape would eventually collapse on itself. However, other planetary bodies such as the moon and the sun have gravitational pulls, causing the gravitational force on an object to decrease as it increases in altitude. This also allows spacecraft to "orbit".
The planetary bodies above the Earth revolve above it, thereby causing sunrise and sunset to occur. As the sun moves farther away, it shrinks until it is no longer able to be seen. The same phenomenon occurs with the stars to cause their movement.
The society's Flat Earth theory states that as a ship moves farther away, the chance of a wave being in front of the ship relative to a viewer's perspective on shore. Therefore, because the ship moves farther away and becomes smaller, a wave is able to obscure a larger portion of the hull until the ship is no longer visible. Other factors that also contribute to this effect is atmospheric distortion and human eyesight.
A diagram depicting Flat Earth Seasons.
The exact explanation for lunar eclipses in the Flat Earth theory is vague, however, a two commonly accepted theories are 'Shadow Object Theory' (that an object undiscovered by science obscures the moon causing moon phases and lunar eclipses) and 'Reflection Theory' (the sun's light reflects off the Earth and reflects back to the moon, with some areas of the Earth being less reflective than others, thus producing shadows).
Tides are caused by a slight tilting of the Earth, causing water to "slosh" back and forth. The tilt is very small, and very unlikely to be noticed.
As the sun orbits over the Earth, the Flat Earth theory maintains that the sun's orbit radius changes, causing it to be directly overhead different locations at different times of the year.
Gravity in the Flat Earth is caused by constant acceleration upwards of everything in the universe, as per Einstein's equivalence principle.
[2]
The 'Ice Wall'
Advocates of the Flat Earth theory justify the lack of significant discoveries proving the world to be flat by suggesting that the flat earth in which we live is in fact surrounded by a 150 foot wall of ice, which effectively prevents people and the oceans from falling off the surface of the world. However, it is difficult to explain why no evidence of this wall of ice has been given. Flat earthers would most likely explain this by suggesting that a conspiracy may be in place in which governments keep the population unaware of the existence of this wall for unknown purposes. Many popular theories propose that the illuminati, or a race of reptilian humanoids may be involved in the Ice Wall conspiracy, and the Ice Wall conspiracy is sometimes linked with other existing conspiracy theories.
The Flat Earth Society in popular culture
★ California-based punk band Bad Religion include a song entitled "Flat Earth Society" on their 1990 album, ''Against the Grain'' (as well as their compilation album All Ages), written by Brett Gurewitz. A prominent feature of the song is the repetition of the words "lie, lie, lie" throughout, indicating a strong denunciation of the society and its theories. The band has produced similar songs criticizing other movements it views as pseudoscientific.
★ Musician Thomas Dolby's official website is called "The Flat Earth Society", partially in reference to his 1984 album, ''The Flat Earth''. The form to join Dolby's mailing list reads "If you truly believe the Earth is flat you are eligible to become a member, thus receiving information about the society", though it is clear from the context that this is intended ironically.
★ Oregon-based rock band Kaddisfly include a song entitled "A Message to the Flat Earth Society" on their 2005 album, Buy Our Intention; We'll Buy You a Unicorn. The song's lyrics seem to scoff at what is seen as an ignorant view of the world.
★ In Thomas Pynchon's "V." the cosmetic surgeon Dr. Schoenmaker uses the Flat Earth Society as an analogy to defend himself against (from his point of view scientifically outdated) accusations that his surgeries on Jewish girls' noses would turn these girls into WASPs: "[...] every photograph from a rocket over White Sands or Cape Canaveral is against the Flat Earth Society. Nothing I do to a Jewish girl's nose is going to change the noses of her children, when she becomes, as she must, a Jewish mother."
★ In the '80s, talk show host Wally George often sparred with and ridiculed members of the Flat Earth Society on his show ''Hot Seat''. Australian talk show host Don Lane also had Flat Earth Society advocates on his show.
★ Steven Bischoff's novelization of '' (1990) states that the Flat Earth Society has an office in Clamp Centre.
★ In 1992, when Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, ran for President on a platform of enacting a flat tax, rival candidate Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa joked that the idea was "cooked up by the Flat Earth Society."
★ California indie band Wilderness Survival released a song entitled "Flat Earth Society Gala" on their 2005 debut "Stereotypes and Types of Stereos." With a chorus that includes the phrase "a banquet of fools" the song title refers to the tight knit group tendencies of drug addicts.
★ A tourism commercial (2007) for Newfoundland and Labrador cites that the Flat Earth Society believed that Newfoundland and Labrador was one of the four corners of the world.
★ There is a free form band from Belgium who call themselves FES (the Flat Earth Society). Their album Isms was put out on the Ipecac label of Mike Patton.
References and footnotes
1. Arthur C Clarke Looks To The Future Graham Hill
2. Flat Earth FAQ, http://theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=1324.0
Sources and links
★ Archival documents: The Papers of the Flat Earth Society, University of Liverpool Library, Special Collections and Archives, reference GB 141 FES. The collection comprises in 31 boxes and folders the papers of the Flat Earth Society during Samuel Shenton's involvement with the society (1956-1971). The material includes incoming and outgoing correspondence, promotional material such as leaflets and posters, magazines, manuscripts, lecture material including maps and diagrams, photographs, press cuttings, notes, books on astronomy and the Earth, and various other ephemera.
★ Earth Not a Globe Online text of Samuel Birley Rowbotham's 1881 treatise on Zetetic (Flat Earth) Astronomy.
★ $5,000 for Proving the Earth is a Globe, Oct. 1931 article from ''Modern Mechanics and Inventions'' about Voliva and his flat earth cosmology.
★ The Flat Earth Professor Donald Simanek's web page on the history of flat earth movements.
★ The Flat-out Truth: Earth Orbits? Moon Landings? A Fraud! Says This Prophet by Robert J. Schadewald. ''Science Digest'', July 1980. A very detailed look at the ''Society'' and its leader. Schadewald was president of the National Center for Science Education and an expert on alternative earth movements.
★ Looking for Lighthouses by Robert J. Schadewald, ''Creation/Evolution'' #31 (1992). This article explains the use of lighthouse data by Samuel Rowbotham.
★ Scientific Creationism, Geocentricity, and the Flat Earth by Robert J. Schadewald, from the ''Skeptical Inquirer'', Winter 1981-1982. Describes the movements leading to the ''Flat Earth Society'' and discusses parallels with creationism.
★ The International Flat Earth Society. By Robert P. J. Day, 1993. Documents the full ''Flat Earth Society'' newsletter. Part of the Talk.Origins archive on the Evolution/Creationism archive.
★ Holding, James Patrick, 2000. Is the ''’erets'' (earth) flat? ''TJ'' '14'(3):51–54.
★ Russell, Jeffrey Burton, 1997. ''Inventing the Flat Earth : Columbus and Modern Historians'' ISBN 0-275-95904-X
★ Russell, Jeffrey Burton, 1997. ''The Myth of the Flat Earth'' (summary of above book).
★ Flat Earth Society Inc. (parody) ''Flat Earth Society Home Page''
Further reading
★ Martin Gardner (1957). ''Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science'', Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-20394-8, chapter 2, pg 16-27
★ James Randi (1995). ''An Encyclopedia of claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural'', St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-13066-X, pg 97-98. (Available online)
★ Robert Schadewald (1981). Scientific Creationism, Geocentricity, and the Flat Earth, ''Skeptical Inquirer'', vol 6, #2, Winter 1981-82, 41-48.
★ Ted Schultz, editor. (1989). ''The Fringes of Reason: A Whole Earth Catalog'', Harmony Books, ISBN 0-517-57165-X, pg. 86, 88, 166.
★ William F. Williams, editor. (2000). ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', Facts on File, ISBN 0-8160-3351-X, pg 114-115.
★ Benjamin Deeb (2005). ''Planet Earth: Alternate Theories of Shape and Size'', NYR Press, ISBN 0-5173-4859-X
See also
★ Hollow Earth
External links
★ References to the Flat Earth Society by the Library of Congress
★ Book chapter on FES by Sir Patrick Moore
★ Lyrics to the song "Flat Earth Society" by Brett Gurewitz
★ Flat Earth Society article from Randi's book
★ The Flat Earth Society official site
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