Third of Russians think sun spins round Earth: poll

Related Topics

An orthodox cathedral is silhouetted as the sun sets in the village Zelyonaya Sloboda 50 km southeast from Moscow in this picture taken late on July 12, 2004. REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev

An orthodox cathedral is silhouetted as the sun sets in the village Zelyonaya Sloboda 50 km southeast from Moscow in this picture taken late on July 12, 2004.

Credit: Reuters/Viktor Korotayev

MOSCOW | Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:36pm EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Does the sun revolve around the Earth? One in every three Russians thinks so, a spokeswoman for state pollster VsTIOM said on Friday.

In a survey released this week, 32 percent of Russians believed the Earth was the center of the Solar system; 55 percent that all radioactivity is man-made; and 29 percent that the first humans lived when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.

"It's really quite amazing," spokeswoman Olga Kamenchuk said of the survey that polled 1,600 people across Russia's regions in January, with a 3.4-percent margin of error.

"All of them (the questions) were absolutely obvious... the data speaks of the low levels of education in the country."

However, people tend to forget what they have been taught at school if it is not part of daily use, she added: "I wonder whether our colleagues in other countries would find any different."

The study also found that women were more likely than men to believe the scientific fallacies.

(Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Paul Casciato)
Science
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (16)
DrJJJJ wrote:
Not as bad as the US!Too many of us put our faith in the macro evolution faith movement-the hoax that pushes secularization of church and state and that’s lead to our moral/ethic crisis! FYI: there’s plenty of evidence of dinos with humans/ high oxygen, etc FYI! Put’s a big dent in carbon dating don’t ya think as does the rate the sun is deteriorating! Einstein: science without religion is inept! It’s called intelligent design for many reasons!

Feb 11, 2011 2:49pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Andvari wrote:
DrJJJJ:

When evolution determined your intelligence, I’d say there was a major mutation or too many Y chromosomes in the zygote….

Feb 11, 2011 8:53pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Andvari wrote:
DrJJJJ:

When evolution determined your intelligence, I think there was a major mutation, or too many Y chromosomes in the zygote….

Feb 11, 2011 8:57pm EST  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »