For better or worse, Elon Musk is almost as well-known for his infamous Twitter account as he is for his work at Tesla or SpaceX, and in this online clash with the Flat Earth society we got to see exactly why.
In a couple of tweets responding to a post by World and Science, Musk pondered why there was no 'Flat Mars Society' whilst waxing poetic about the sunrise in space, which prompted a response from the official Flat Earth Society, who slid into the mentions to respond.
"Hi Elon, thanks for the question," the Flat Earth Society replied. "Unlike the Earth, Mars has been observed to be round."
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Now whilst there is an argument to be made here that the Earth has, in fact, been observed to be round from outer space on many different occasions, it'll have to wait for another day. Because after they signed off with a cheery 'hope you have a fantastic day', that seemed to pretty much be the end of it.
It wouldn't be the last time the two groups came into contact though: When Musk launched the SpaceX rocket into orbit, people from across the globe marvelled at this incredible feat of engineering as footage of its lift-off was broadcast worldwide.
And not long after entering orbit, a livestream from on board the rocket started broadcasting footage of the Earth below looking, both beautiful and as round as it's ever been..
Of course, even though there has been an abundance of evidence proving the Earth is spherical before now; and indeed, the rocket would never have made it into orbit in the first place without an immeasurable amount of calculations predicated upon knowledge of the planet's roundness, none of this has quite managed to persuade the perplexingly stubborn Flat Earther community thus far.
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Another famous face with no time for Flat Earthers is astronomer and physicist Brian Cox, who claimed that he'd bash any conspiracists he met with the works of Isaac Newton.
When asked by Radio X what his go-to answer to destroy Flat Earthers was, he replied: "My go-to book is Newton's Principia because it's huge and you can hit them with it.
"I can't comprehend how anyone could comprehend the idea that the earth might be flat."
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"You just get on a plane... and go to Australia... and don't come back," he joked.
He added: "I don't really know what they think, but it's drivel.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: flat earth, elon musk, US Entertainment
