Fads & fallacies: in the name of science

[Wilbur Glenn] Voliva was a paunchy, baldish, grim-faced fellow who wore a rumpled frock coat and enormous whit cuffs. Throughout his life he was profoundly convinced that the earth is shaped like a flapjack, with the North Pole in the center and the South Pole distributed around the circumference. For many years, he offered $5,000 to anyone who could prove to him the earth is spherical, and in fact made several trips around the world lecturing on the subject. In his mind, of course, he had not circumnavigated a globe; he had merely traced a circle on a flat surface.