Mainau Declaration 2024 on Nuclear Weapons

Mainau Island, Lake Constance – On the closing day of the 73^rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, 5 July 2024, 30 Nobel Laureates in Physics and Chemistry from more than 10 countries signed the “Mainau Declaration 2024 on Nuclear Weapons”. As of 20 August, 103 Nobel Laureates have signed the Mainau Declaration 2024.

The signatories (see below) urgently warn of the danger that “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.”

The “Mainau Declaration 2024 on Nuclear Weapons” states: “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 mankind 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.” 

The declaration was first presented on the occasion of the 73^rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting on Mainau Island in Lake Constance, Germany and was unanimously endorsed by all Laureates present at the Meeting at that time. The signatories of the declaration have all been awarded Nobel Prizes in Physics or Chemistry.

“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”, the declaration reads.

Laureate David Gross, speaking for the initiators of the declaration, said: “We initiated this declaration because 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 felt that we must alert the people and leaders of the world to this possibility and urge them to heed our warning and act to prevent this catastrophe.”

The Declaration evokes the first Mainau Declaration of 1955. Itself an appeal against the use of nuclear weapons, it had been initiated and drafted by the Nobel Prize-winning German nuclear scientists Otto Hahn and Max Born, circulated at the 5^th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (11–15 July 1955) and presented on Mainau Island on 15 July 1955. The declaration was initially signed by 18 Nobel Laureates. Within a year, the number of supporters rose to 52 Nobel Laureates. The second “Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change” was initially signed by 36 Nobel Laureates on the closing day of the 65^th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, 3 July 2015, and handed over to the President of the French Republic during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris.

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 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.

• Alain Aspect, Physics 2022
• J. Georg Bednorz, Physics 1987
• Steven Chu, Physics 1997
• Johann Deisenhofer, Chemistry 1988
• Reinhard Genzel, Physics 2020
• Walter Gilbert, Chemistry 1980
• David J. Gross, Physics 2004
• F. Duncan M. Haldane, Physics 2016
• Theodor W. Hänsch, Physics 2005
• Serge Haroche, Physics 2012
• Stefan W. Hell, Chemistry 2014
• Richard Henderson, Chemistry 2017
• Gerardus ´t Hooft, Physics 1999
• Brian D. Josephson, Physics 1973
• Takaaki Kajita, Physics 2015
• Klaus Klitzing, Physics 1985
• J. Michael Kosterlitz, Physics 2016
• Anne L’Huillier, Physics 2023
• John C. Mather, Physics 2006
• Hartmut Michel, Chemistry 1988
• W.E. Moerner, Chemistry 2014
• Saul Perlmutter, Physics 2011
• William D. Phillips, Physics 1997
• Didier Queloz, Physics 2019
• Brian P. Schmidt, Physics 2011
• Dan Shechtman, Chemistry 2011
• George F. Smoot, Physics 2006
• Donna Strickland, Physics 2018
• David J. Wineland, Physics 2012
• Kurt Wüthrich, Chemistry 2002

Support by More Than 200 Lindau Alumni

The following Lindau Alumni 2024 – Young Scientists at the 73^rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting – add their names in support of the Mainau Declaration 2024.

“We, the undersigned Young Scientists of different countries, different creeds, and different political persuasions, urgently support the Laureates’ call on the people and leaders of the world to heed our warning and act to prevent this catastrophe.”