Flat-Earthers Spent $20K On An Experiment That Accidentally Proved The Planet Is Round
There are many lesser-known facts about the planet Earth, but one thing we know for sure is that it’s a geoid – a roughly ellipsoidal shape. However, flat-earthers have been trying (and failing) to disprove this long-accepted (and well-proven) fact of the earth’s inherent shape.
In perhaps the most glorious scientific backfire of recent memory, a group of flat-earthers unintentionally joined Team Round Earth after dropping a cool $20,000 on an experiment. Their mission to debunk global science instead delivered them a spherical slice of humble pie.
The cosmic irony unfolded during the filming of Netflix’s documentary Behind the Curve, where flat-earth crusader Bob Knodel accidentally proved the very thing he set out to disprove. Let’s take a look at what went on and how it backfired for the flat-earthers.
The $20,000 Flat-Earth Experiment That Proved The Earth Is Round
Imagine this: a $20,000 laser gyroscope purchased for the sole purpose of proving science wrong. The flat-earthers’ primary plan involved using this high-precision instrument to show zero planetary rotation. Because obviously, if the Earth were spinning, we’d all fly off like cookies from a toddler’s toy carousel, right?
Wrong. When switched on, the gyroscope stubbornly insisted on detecting a 15-degree drift every hour, exactly matching the rotation rate of our inconveniently spherical planet.
Rather than accept the conclusion as presented by the scientific experiment, Knodel muttered something about being taken aback by the problem. In a moment of accidental transparency caught on film, he admitted to his fellow flat-earthers that they were decidedly unwilling to accept these findings and would seek ways to disprove their own experiment.
Spherical Earth Evidence Milestones
How Flat Earth Beliefs Gained Prominence
Now that you know the details of the costly experiment that went sideways, it helps to understand where these flat-earth notions originated. While some of the world’s oldest civilizations figured out the Earth was spherical over 2,000 years ago, the flat-earth movement in its present form is surprisingly recent, gaining serious traction only in the 19th century.
The current iteration began with Samuel Rowbotham in the 1800s, whose “Zetetic Astronomy” proposed the Earth as a flat disc with the North Pole at the center and Antarctica as a giant ice wall around the edge. This fringe belief languished in obscurity until 1956 when Samuel Shenton established the International Flat Earth Research Society.
The movement experienced a surprising renaissance in the 2010s thanks to social media platforms spreading conspiracy theories faster than fact-checkers could debunk them. Today’s flat-earthers typically believe we live on a disc with the Arctic Circle at the center, surrounded by a 150-foot-tall Antarctic ice wall that presumably keeps the oceans from spilling into space. NASA, airlines, and governments worldwide are all supposedly in on the “round Earth conspiracy.”
Armed with this alternative worldview and a sizable budget, modern flat-earthers decided to put their theory to the test. The results would prove both expensive and embarrassing.
Why The Failed Flat Earth Experiment Matters On A Larger Scale
The $20,000 flat-earth experiment gone wrong isn’t just an amusing anecdote, it illustrates crucial issues about how we process information in the modern world. This costly misadventure matters for several compelling reasons.
The Growing Distrust of Science
The flat-earth movement represents an extreme case of a broader concerning trend: declining trust in scientific institutions. When someone is willing to spend $20,000 on equipment only to reject its findings, we’re witnessing something more complex than simple ignorance, it is an active resistance to established knowledge systems.
This distrust doesn’t emerge from nowhere. The internet age has democratized information while simultaneously eroding traditional gatekeepers of fact and expertise. When anyone can create convincing-looking content, distinguishing between genuine expertise and persuasive misinformation becomes increasingly challenging.
Scientific Literacy in the Information Age
The flat-earth movement offers a perfect teaching opportunity about the importance of scientific literacy. When readers understand basic scientific principles (like how gyroscopes detect rotation), they’re better equipped to evaluate extraordinary claims and recognize when evidence is being selectively ignored.
Educational systems worldwide face new challenges in teaching not just scientific facts but scientific thinking. The flat-earth community’s rejection of their own experimental evidence highlights why understanding the process of science matters as much as memorizing its conclusions.
What To Learn From This $20,000 Flat-Earther Lesson
Yes, the experiment reaffirms that the earth is round, but there’s more to it than just that. What makes this costly blunder so compelling isn’t just the price tag, it’s the rare glimpse into what happens when deeply-held beliefs crash headlong into contradictory evidence. Most never face such dramatic challenges to their worldviews, and fewer still have their moment of cognitive dissonance captured on film for Netflix subscribers worldwide.
The scientific method was developed to give everyone an unbiased view of the world and the universe. From their observations and experiments, each person can determine the truth. And once someone else can reproduce the same results, then they’re sure of what they’re experiencing. And that is a comforting, and crucial, constant.
