Annual-Report-2024 - Flipbook - Page 28
Accompanied by standing ovations: the signing of the Declaration
Mainau Declaration 2024 on Nuclear Weapons
as signed
In July 1955, eighteen Nobel Laureates in science, meeting
in Lindau, issued a declaration warning the world of the
immense danger posed by the development of nuclear
weapons that give humankind the means to destroy
itself.
In the subsequent decades, the number of countries
with nuclear weapons, as well as the number of warheads
and their destructive power, has increased ten-fold. We
have been very lucky to have avoided nuclear war until
now, but at this time the situation is dire. Nuclear arms
are proliferating; arms control agreements are being
26 | Responsibility Extending Beyond Science
scrapped; and an accelerated arms race is underway. In
today’s fragmented and polarized world, there is a significant probability that, either by accident or by deliberate
act, these horrible weapons may be used – with the likelihood of the end of human civilization as we know it.
We the undersigned scientists of different countries,
different creeds, and different political persuasions, call
on the people and leaders of the world to heed our warning and act to prevent this catastrophe.
All nations must commit to ensuring that nuclear
weapons never be used again.
If they are not prepared to do this, they will cease to
exist.
