Professor Brian Cox Hilariously Shoots Down Flat Earther B.o.B

Barely a day passes without another reason to laugh at Flat Earthers, or indeed without some sort of prominent figure weighing in with their opinion on the non-debate.

Regular followers of the phenomenon will be aware of rapper and Flat Earth true believer B.o.B, and his offer to launch a spacecraft to prove the theory, but today we cede the floor to an altogether more sensible and qualified musician: Brian Cox.

Oldham-born Cox - who, if you haven't been paying attention, had a number one record in 1994 with 'Things Can Only Get Better' as keyboard player in D:Ream - is Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester. As a man who's more than qualified to talk about all things astronomical, he very unsurprisingly disagreed with B.o.B's beliefs.

"A Flat Earther is a person who thinks the Earth is flat, and that is not right. It's a sphere," he told Greg James on BBC Radio One.

Asked what he thought of B.o.B's various assertions, he joked: "To his credit - I'm not going to defend what he thinks, it's totally wrong - but that's the heart of science.

"If you want to prove something to yourself and you should do, that's a good instinct, then that's what you do. You get your money, build a rocket, go up into space and then you will find it is spherical. He has wasted all his money but he will have learned something."

PA

It was pretty obvious that Cox wasn't exactly taking B.o.B that seriously, as he ended with: "So, please carry on, I'd like him to do that and publish his pictures. I'll send him a tenner."

Cox has proven that one can go from the world of pop music to the world of science and be successful in both, though perhaps he is the exception that proves the rule.

B.o.B. is currently beating him in the musical stakes - two number ones in the UK, with a third if you include his bit part in Jessie J's 2011 hit 'Price Tag' - but on the scientific front, he still has a fair way to go to be taken as seriously as an academic.

The Come Up Show (Creative Commons)

In Cox's defence, his one hit song is not exactly scientifically accurate either, a fact that he was all too willing to point out himself back in 2016, when he described 'Things Can Only Get Better' as "one of the most misleading and scientifically inaccurate pop songs that's ever been written."

Topics: flat earth, Celebrity, Music

Mike Wood

Mike Meehall Wood is a freelance journalist and translator. He writes for LADbible, VICE and countless sports publications, focusing on rugby league, football and boxing. He is a graduate of Leeds University and maintains a fizzy pop obsession. Contact Mike at [email protected]