Charles Kenneth Johnson (July 24, 1924 – March 19, 2001) was, from 1972 until his death, the president of the
International Flat Earth Research Society, which he and his wife ran from their home in
California. He claimed that the
Apollo Moon landings, and
space exploration
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...
in general, were faked to lead people away from the
biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
truth that the
world was flat.
Biography
According to Johnson, he had doubted the
round earth theory since an elementary school teacher tried, unsuccessfully, to teach him about
gravity.
Originally an airplane mechanic in San Francisco, Johnson took over the Society from
Samuel Shenton on the latter's death in 1972, from his ranch, near
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...
. While president, his organization had only around 200 members in 1980.
Johnson once said that "if earth were a ball spinning in space, there would be no up or down."
In his obituary, Tim Bullamore wrote, "Although the world at large was slow to accept his work, Johnson remained cheerful and unruffled. He enjoyed smoking a cigar while watching the sun set over the flat desert. He was regularly interviewed by curious journalists and was often invited to speak about his subject. He received large quantities of mail, not all of it ridiculing his work, and on one occasion he starred in an ice-cream advertisement."
References
External links
The Flat-out Truth: Earth Orbits? Moon Landings? A Fraud! Says This Prophet Robert J. Schadewald. ''Science Digest'', July 1980. Detailed profile of Johnson and the ''Society''.
Robert P. J. Day, 1993. Includes a promotional flyer written by Johnson. Part of the talk.origins archive on the Evolution/Creationism archive.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Charles K.
1924 births
2001 deaths
Moon landing conspiracy theorists
Flat Earth proponents
American conspiracy theorists