I like the segment, but don't completely buy his assertion that the general populace believed the earth was round. Only a small fraction of the populace was literate and numerate. So, as one of the panelists said, how does he know the thoughts of the general serf/peasant populace 500 years ago?

I'd say YES all stars are round. Planets become spherical (or oblately spheroidal ; ) at much smaller sizes than required to become stars. So naturally, stars would be spherical or oblate spheroids for very fast rotating stars.

I was taught in school that people used to think the world was flat, so naturally that weighs a bit heavier than the contradictory claim of this show. Of course QI may be right in this, but unless anyone cares enough about the subject to find out and feels passionately about rectifying that misconception in others, it will most likely remain.

What's Rich Hall doing on this show?

>> ^longde:
I like the segment, but don't completely buy his assertion that the general populace believed the earth was round. Only a small fraction of the populace was literate and numerate. So, as one of the panelists said, how does he know the thoughts of the general serf/peasant populace 500 years ago?


i think he then claimed to have read what people wrote about the Earth's shape 500 years ago.

But five hundred years ago, what was written only reflected a drop in the bucket of human sentiment. Only a thin class of people were literate, and these did not even represent the elite so much.

So I think it's correct to assert the true shape of the earth has been known since at least the greeks, but not that is was widely or generally believed.

>> ^longde:
So I think it's correct to assert the true shape of the earth has been known since at least the greeks, but not that is was widely or generally believed.


That's a good point, but we shouldn't confuse a circle with a sphere.

A penny is round, too, but it is also flat.

>> ^deathcow:
I'd say YES all stars are round. Planets become spherical (or oblately spheroidal ; ) at much smaller sizes than required to become stars. So naturally, stars would be spherical or oblate spheroids for very fast rotating stars.


Aren't some stars are oscillating in vibrational modes? That would mean they have a constantly changing shape:

http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2008/09/25/0803748105.DCSupplemental/SM2.gif

Though I guess that means spheroidal and oblately spheroidal.

I'm guessing he's saying that the scientific consensus was that the world was not flat.

You don't need any fancy equipment to know that the earth is a sphere. If you watch a ship sail over the horizon you will see the hull disappear first, followed by the sails, then the top of the masts. Also, during a lunar eclipse the earth's shadow is round against the moon.

This guy proved the earth to be round in 240 B.C.E. in a totally awesome experiment.

Like Stephen says, there is no evidence of people thinking the earth to be flat. It was believed that the earth was the center of the solar system but that is because the bible said it was, and more importantly, the ancient Greeks thought it was.

If you think about it you would have to be very stupid to believe that the earth is flat. Travel in any direction and you can see things that you could not see before.

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