"An enormous responsibility lies in the hands of political leaders today. [...] A mentally ill or power-obsessed dictator could then [...] doom the civilised world, but with it also his own country, to radiation death. [...] Such a possibility must never occur, and hence the need for truly international control over the development of nuclear weapons, or better: peaceful coexistence of all peoples. [...] Today, war is no longer 'the continuation of politics by other means'. In a bomb war there are no longer victors and vanquished."
Otto Hahn, 13 February 1955
Five months later, 15 July 1955, the Nobel Prize Laureate initiated the Mainau Declaration at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Among the 52 signatories worldwide were the physicists Werner Heisenberg and Max Born, as well as 15 other German and international Nobel laureates.
Two further declarations followed in 2015 (on climate change) and 2024 (on nuclear weapons).
Mainau Declarations
Human nature being what it is, the problems remain.
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DeleteDeclaracions de gent sensata.
ReplyDeleteMalauradament tots no ho som.
Hugs, Sean.
Malauradament, penso que cada cop més, les declaracions queden com a excusa per no fer res que molesti a ningú.... mentre es deixa fer el que vulguin als més poderosos, fins i tot proposar-los als premis Nobel i tot..... ja s'ha traspassat la línia de mantenir el seny i les convencions internacionals que podien mantenir una mínima estabilitat. Confiem en que la situació canvii per a millor.... és un desig !.
ReplyDeleteSalut !!.
Hi Sean - I'd say today it's even worse - desperate times, I do hope sanity prevails, especially for all of us just living our lives. Thank you for introducing me to the Mainau Declaration ... Cheers Hilary
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