flat Earth, the perception that Earth exists as a flat disk, either circular or square-shaped. This view persisted in the ancient world until empirical observations revealed that Earth’s shape was spherical or ellipsoidal. In modern times, however, the notion of a flat Earth has been revived and promoted on social media despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
The idea that Earth is flat seems to have an enduring hold on human imagination. In the 1830s a commune in Britain, led by British writer Samuel Birley Rowbotham, resurrected the concept as backlash against rapid scientific progress.
What would become the modern flat Earth concept emerged modestly in the 1950s as the Flat Earth Society, a small fringe group in Britain with a membership of fewer than 4,000 people. However, largely due to the rising influence of the Internet and social media in the early 2000s, the organization launched itself worldwide in October 2009, and annual conferences followed and catered to a variety of worldviews. Some of the society’s models echo the ancient view of Earth as a disk with a dome of stars rotating above it. The models of other groups, however, claim that the Sun and the Moon are only 50 km (31 miles) in diameter and that they circle the disk at a height of 5,500 km (3,417 miles). Others envision a world hemmed in by Antarctica (which is believed to extend infinitely in all directions), or they reject conventional laws of gravity, explaining that Earth exists as a disk that accelerates upward in order to give the illusion of gravity.
Scientists and researchers who study this growing movement have found that its appeal is rooted in four trends: the public’s mistrust of official scientific sources, the perpetuation of conspiracy theories, loyalty to the groups and community they identify with, and the use of social media to spread misinformation.
