Experiment to prove 'Flat Earth' in the 19th century by British writer

Samuel Rowbotham, an English writer, conducted a series of experiments to prove his view of a flat Earth in the late 19th century. One of the famous experiments he performed was the " Bedford Level Experiment". " , conducted on a water channel called the Old Bedford River in Bedfordshire, England.

In 1838, British writer Samuel Rowbotham began to refute what the ancient Greeks as well as modern scientists had long asserted : The Earth is spherical. A Flat Earther since his youth, Rowbotham found the ideal place to test this was the Old Bedford River canal in Welney. This artificial canal was built in the early 17th century to divert part of the Great Ouse River in the Fens, Cambridgeshire, England. The canal runs completely straight and unobstructed for nearly 10km. This makes it an ideal location to directly measure the Earth's curvature.

The Old Bedford River Canal in Welney (left) and Rowbotham's Flat Earth map (right). (Photo: Amusing Planet/Bob Jones/Wikimedia Commons)

"The water is virtually still - often completely still - and throughout its length the canal is not interrupted by any type of lock or water gate. Therefore, in all respects, it is relevant to determine whether convexity exists or not ," Rowbotham writes in his book Zetetic Astronomy.

Rowbotham waded into the river and used a telescope placed 20cm above the water surface to observe a boat slowly moving away. On the boat was a stake with a flag about 1m high above the water surface. He said the ship was always within his sight for 10km, while if the water surface were to bend, the ship would disappear.

With this empirical evidence and a long list of arguments, Rowbotham attempted to impose a flat Earth view on the community in Cambridgeshire. He published his observations in Zetetic Astronomy in 1849, writing under the pen name "Parallax". Rowbotham argued that the Earth is flat based on everyday observations such as the Earth not being convex when viewed from a hot air balloon and lighthouses being seen at distances that would be impossible if the Earth were spherical.

Rowbotham later developed his views further in his book Earth Not a Globe. The book posits that the Earth is a flat disk centered at the North Pole and its southern edge surrounded by a wall of ice - Antarctica. Rowbotham even believes that the Sun and Moon are only more than 4,800km from Earth and the "universe" is about 5,000km from Earth.

A drawing from Rowbotham's book Zetetic Astronomy in 1849. (Photo: Amusing Planet)

Rowbotham's claims did not attract much attention until in 1870, a flat-Earth proponent named John Hampden bet £500 that he could prove the Earth was flat by repeating his experiments. Rowbotham. Naturalist and surveyor Alfred Russel Wallace accepted the bet.

Wallace knew that density changes in the air just above the water could cause light to bend toward the ground, allowing observers to see objects beyond the horizon. To demonstrate the curvature of the Earth , Wallace placed a series of discs on top of columns along the water channel. When viewed from one end, the discs toward the middle of the canal appear slightly higher than the remaining discs, the discs at the far end appear slightly lower. Thus, with his physics knowledge, he avoided the errors of previous experiments and won the bet.

Despite the evidence, Hampden refused to accept Wallace's proof. However, referee John Henry Walsh, editor of the sports magazine The Field , ordered Hampden to pay his opponent's bet. Despite complying with the betting agreement, Hampden then relentlessly harassed, threatened, and defamed Wallace.

Meanwhile, Rowbotham continued to develop his ideas. He died in 1884 but the flat Earth idea lived on. His work in America was continued by printer William Carpenter.

Carpenter published the eight-part book Theoretical Astronomy Examined and Exposed - Proving the Earth not a Globe in 1864. After that, Carpenter immigrated to Baltimore and went on to publish One Hundred Proofs the Earth is Not a Globe in 1885 and wrote many falsehoods.

In 1904, British writer and social activist Elizabeth Blount, repeated Rowbotham's famous Bedford experiment with similar results. She hired a photographer with a telephoto lens to photograph the large white cloth placed near the canal surface at Rowbotham's original location 10km away.

After installing the camera 60cm above the water at Welney, the photographer was surprised to capture a target that he thought should not have been visible because of the camera's low mounting point. As in the case of Rowbotham, Blount did not take into account the effects of atmospheric refraction. However, the photographer noticed an illusion that he described as "hazy steam that appeared to float unevenly on the surface of the canal".

In 1956, preacher Samuel Shenton founded the Flat Earth Society. Shenton died in 1971, but the association he founded continued to thrive, reaching 3,500 members three decades later. The advent of the Internet and the popularity of social media helped sustain growth. The number of Flat Earthers today may even reach millions.