Show of HandsShow of Hands

TerryQuinn June 4th, 2014 3:05am

Most scientists and scholars during the Middle Ages thought that the world was flat until Christopher Columbus proved them wrong.

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thursday Kansas
06/06/14 2:29 am

The ancient Greeks knew it was round.

tokala
06/05/14 5:12 pm

First, 1492 is not the Middle Ages.
Second, it wasn't CC that proved that wrong.

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nicolebliss31
06/05/14 9:44 am

False. There is evidence that states others have crossed before Columbus.

pinkyusuck The Carribean. I wish.
06/04/14 11:12 am

I think it was a relatively small, isolated group who believed that. Artifactual evidence indicates that the Atlantic was crossed numerous times before Columbus. The Pacific as well.

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pinkyusuck The Carribean. I wish.
06/04/14 11:13 am

That's what happens when you misinterpret the Bible.

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/04/14 1:10 pm

Great link! It's hard to believe that he really thought the Earth was flat. Then again the Flat Earth Society is alive and well today with about 400+ members. I thought it was a joke.
theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

firefly5 the verse
06/03/14 10:45 pm

You know, you've quickly become one of my favorites.

Reply
TerryQuinn Stardust
06/04/14 1:04 pm

That's quite a compliment. Thank you. Love your polls too.

professorwho Madness and Genius
06/03/14 10:07 pm

Contrary to belief, just about everyone (with an education) knew the earth was round.

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CTYankee!!! Connecticut
06/04/14 2:30 am

So about 10 people then?

TalkPolitics Chevy Chase, MD
06/03/14 9:57 pm

Key word being scholars. Yes the majority didn't think it was flat, but books were rare until the printing press and even then many were illiterate. The general populace, if I remember correctly, still thought the earth was flat.

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 10:03 pm

You could be right. I have no idea and would be interested to know. Below, I argued that I think the Christian church believedthe Earth to be round, so they could have learned it from church. Also, I would guess that people would know from sailing:

citethesource Socialist and Atheist
06/03/14 9:32 pm

This comic from xkcd is actually printed and displayed in my classroom:

xkcd.com/1255/

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TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 9:51 pm

That's funny! Also, a pretty deep joke - I didn't fully get it until I read the explanation.

citethesource Socialist and Atheist
06/03/14 9:53 pm

xkcd is the best web comic out there.

Did you see the ghost over text?

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 10:00 pm

I've seem a few xkcd comics before but definitely need to check it out more. I just saw the ghost one about proper use of "literally". Is that what you meant?

citethesource Socialist and Atheist
06/03/14 10:01 pm

Are you on a computer or a mobile device?

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 10:05 pm

Both :) I'm using my cell for SOH.

citethesource Socialist and Atheist
06/03/14 10:10 pm

This makes it much easier. Go to the xkcd website. Pick any cartoon. Move your cursor over the image and leave it there for a few moments.

I do this all the time. :-) Multi tasking win.

firefly5 the verse
06/03/14 10:45 pm

xkcd is fantastic. I scripted my phone to send me updates.

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/04/14 1:01 pm

Thanks cite for that tip! Pretty cool!

Injectable Trump Killed Babbitt
06/03/14 9:15 pm

I understand that this was a myth. My question is that aside from the educated scholars during this period, was the populace educated on this fact?

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Praetorianus In the uncanny valley
06/03/14 9:20 pm

Probably not, even today many simple facts of the universe such as the sun is a star, or the earth revolves around it, is unknown to a considerable part of the population.

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 9:39 pm

Right. According to a recent NSF poll, 26% of Americans think the Sun goes around the Earth. That's people who live in the internet age with widely available public education!

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 9:44 pm

I don't know the answer, but would bet that most people (>51%) in the Middle Ages knew Earth was a sphere, because the Christian church supported that view (AFAIK), and a spherical world makes more sense than a flat one to sailors. Good question!

Praetorianus In the uncanny valley
06/03/14 10:19 pm

The official church position was built on Aristotle and Ptolemy. The earth is spherical but at the center of the solar system. Most common people were illiterate, so we don't know, but drawings of a flat earth and sailors fearing to fall off existed.

Injectable Trump Killed Babbitt
06/04/14 11:20 am

Thank you all for the respnse.

Praetorianus In the uncanny valley
06/03/14 9:14 pm

Actually it was Columbus who was wrong in his dispute with the university of Salamanca, he estimated the circumference far too small and packed provisions accordingly. Without land between Europe and Asia, they'd have perished.

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Mattwall1
06/03/14 8:23 pm

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Mattwall1
06/03/14 8:23 pm

I really hate this myth

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 8:27 pm

Me too. I saw this on a main SOH poll (with several likes), so was curious about how many believed.

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 8:43 pm

To be fair, it's a very understandable misunderstanding. The flat earth myth makes Columbus' voyage a great story. Even if it's not in textbooks anymore, it's a powerful myth that I'm sure many are told .

DavesNotHere where am I
06/06/14 3:27 pm

Matt, tell us how you really feel:-))

susanr Colorado
06/03/14 8:13 pm

BZZZZT...

No.

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RJ1969 SoCal
06/03/14 9:16 pm

Nice touch wi the buzzer!

Vincere Seattle
06/03/14 8:12 pm

Lol, no. A number of people figured that one out centuries before Columbus. I believe scholars/mathematicians in the Middle East were the first. By Columbus' time most educated Europeans would have at least heard of the idea.

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TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 8:30 pm

Correct. Someone on an SOH poll was arguing that we shouldn't believe climate change , because most scientists used to think that the Earth was flat.

pinkyusuck The Carribean. I wish.
06/04/14 11:20 am

Actually the Bible makes reference to the 'circle of the Earth' in Isaiah 40:22. It's reasonable to surmise that man has always known about the circular/spherical nature of the planet.

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 8:10 pm

Correct! "no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the earth was flat" - Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell (1997).

Oboette17 Senioritis
06/03/14 9:44 pm

And yet, I read in a readers digest a few years ago that 20% of Americans believe the earth is flat and that the sun orbits the earth

TerryQuinn Stardust
06/03/14 9:55 pm

Funny, we were just talking about that study in the comments above. To say "no educated person believed ..." is an overstatement - there's always that fringe group. However, I think conformity ruled back then so the fringe group was probably small.