After a few decades of surviving in obscurity, the internet would finally give Flat Earth a platform to spread at a previously unprecedented rate.

Inspired by Samuel Rowbotham’s 1849 work Zetetic Astronomy (which is one of the oldest-known post-Columbian works to claim the Earth is flat), Shenton spent most of his life dedicated to the proliferation of the International Flat Earth Research Society, later renamed to the more simple Flat Earth Society or FES.įollowing Shenton’s death in 1971, a small, yet dedicated, sect of Flat Earth Society members kept the organization alive through the distribution of periodic newsletters related to developments in the Flat Earth Theory. To give some background, Flat Earth, at least as it has been proposed in the modern world, took off with the formation of the International Flat Earth Research Society (IFERS) in 1956 by Samuel Shenton, an amateur British cosmologist who fervently propelled the theory in the years leading up to the space race. Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire: Time to Prioritize Wildfire Prevention & Suppression Celebrities outside of professional sports have also endorsed the theory, one of the most vocal of which is former reality TV star Tila Tequila.

Although it is unknown as to how many authentic Flat Earth believers there are, the increased celebrity attention indicates that the theory has a wide base of support from people of all kinds. For those out of the loop of popular conspiracy theories, Flat Earth Theory (or just Flat Earth) is exactly what the name implies it to be: a proposition that the Earth is not a three-dimensional sphere as scientific claims have led us to believe, but in fact a flat plane as was thought by the majority of ancient cultures.Įmerging first as a fringe theory in the late 19th century (and later again in the 1950s), Flat Earth has once more gained the attention of the public following the theory’s newfound popularity on the internet. In late 2017, a number of professional athletes, including NFL wide receiver Sammy Watkins and NBA star Kyrie Irving, shook up the sports world by making their support for Flat Earth Theory publicly known.

Join the flat earth society