Originally posted by orfeothe earth is flat, the earth is flat, and the moon is made of cheese ...
I seem to remember that the current President of South Africa was extremely reluctant to agree there was a link between HIV and AIDS. That's the context in which I've seen this before.
Makes you think, really, how many things we take as the truth not because of our own observations but relying on the words of others.
and incidentally ... we're barely out of the 20th century, where ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlow_Shapley
Harlow Shapley:
"He participated in the "Great Debate" with Heber D. Curtis on the nature of nebulas and galaxies and the size of the universe. The debate took place on April 26, 1920. Shapley argued against the theory that the Sun was at the center of the galaxy, and promoted the idea that globular clusters and spiral nebulae are within the Milky Way. He was incorrect about the latter point, but correct about the former."