To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

​Elon Musk Savages The Flat Earth Debate In Tweets

​Elon Musk Savages The Flat Earth Debate In Tweets

The businessman, inventor, investor, engineer and all-round big-balls has taken the Flat Earth debate to the cleaners

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

Elon Musk has a lot to be proud of in his career but rinsing Flat Earthers could be the greatest success story of his life so far.

The businessman, inventor, investor, engineer and all-round big-bollocks has taken the Flat Earth debate to the cleaners in a couple of tweets when replying to a post by World and Science.

Savage and to the point. You can't really argue with that, although the Flat Earthers have given it a good go - after all, they're used to disputing all of the history of science.

"Hi Elon, thanks for the question," replied the Flat Earth Society. "Unlike the Earth, Mars has been observed to be round."

There's an argument to be made here that the Earth has indeed been observed to be round, which would make this Tweet utter fucking nonsense, but never mind. They signed off with a cheery 'hope you have a fantastic day' and that pretty much seems to be that.

Polite as they've been here, Flat Earthers like nothing better than a good old squabble about the fact that the Earth is a globe. They instead think that the planet we call home is more like a disc with a layer of ice on the outside.

Don't believe us? Allow scientific icon, astrological expert, former international England cricketer and pedalo enthusiast Andrew Flintoff to explain.

Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff

Credit: PA

He recently said on his own podcast on BBC 5 Live: "If you're in a helicopter and you hover why does the Earth not come to you if it's round?

"Why, if we're hurtling through space, why would water stay still? Why is it not wobbling? Also, if you fire a laser about 16 miles, if the world was curved, you shouldn't be able to see it but you can."

He added: "The middle is the North Pole, around the outside is the South Pole which is like a big wall of ice. This is why all governments now have bases on the South Pole."

That's probably like asking Musk to handle an 85mph Flintoff bouncer but you can't deny everyone is entitled to an opinion.

However, it's probably also difficult to dispute it with Buzz Aldrin - an actual astronaut and among the first men to land on the Moon.

Aldrin recently waded into the debate with another Flat Earther in the shape of rapper B.o.B, who's not quite as much of a heralded scientist as Flintoff, but is hoping to soon have his PHD (this may be a joke).

Anyway, Musk's point seems to have caused a bit of a stir, as, at the time of writing, it was approaching 63,000 likes. Which side are you on?

Featured Image Credit: Dominic Sobieski (Creative Commons) / PA

Topics: Science, flat earth, elon musk, Technology