Though it seems difficult to comprehend, there are apparently still people who, in all seriousness, believe that the world is flat, and all evidence presented to the contrary is just part of a huge conspiracy.   The recent documentary “Behind the Curve” follows the lives of a few prominent flat earthers (the Flat Earth Society of course takes issue).

On the other hand, there is a flat-earth misconception that many scientific skeptics hold:  that is that prior to Columbus, even well-educated people thought the earth was flat (and that the Roman Catholic church considered that the idea of a spherical earth was heretical.   On the contrary, as explained by science historian Thony Christie :

