Mainau Declaration


The Mainau Declaration is either of two socio-political appeals by Nobel laureates who participated in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, the annual gathering with young scientists at the German town of Lindau. The name denotes that these declarations were presented on Mainau Island in Lake Constance, the traditional venue of the last day of the one-week meeting.

Mainau Declaration 1955

The first Mainau Declaration was an appeal against the use of nuclear weapons. Initiated and drafted by German nuclear scientists Otto Hahn and Max Born, it was circulated at the 5th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 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.

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Signatories

The initial 18 signatories were:
The Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change was presented on Mainau Island, Germany, on the occasion of the last day of the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting on Friday 3 July 2015. It is an urgent warning of the consequences of climate change and was initially signed by 36 Nobel laureates. In the months thereafter, 35 additional laureates joined the group of supporters of the declaration. As of February 2016, a total of 76 Nobel laureates endorse the Mainau Declaration 2015.
The text of the declaration states that although more data needs to be analysed and further research has to be done, the climate report by the IPCC still represents the most reliable scientific assessment on anthropogenic climate change, and that it should therefore be used as a foundation upon which policymakers should discuss actions to oppose the global threat of climate change.

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Signatories and supporters

The following Nobel laureates have thus far signed the Mainau Declaration 2015 or expressed their full support after its presentation. 36 Nobel laureates signed the declaration on 3 July 2015 on the final day of the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting; 40 agreed later on for their names to be listed as signatories.
Initial signatoriesAdditional supporters
Peter AgreHiroshi Amano
J.M. BishopDavid Baltimore
Elizabeth BlackburnAaron Ciechanover
Martin ChalfieElias Corey
Steven ChuRobert Curl
Claude Cohen-TannoudjiJohann Deisenhofer
James W. CroninSheldon Glashow
Peter DohertyRobert Grubbs
Gerhard ErtlLeland Hartwell
Edmond FischerDudley Herschbach
Walter GilbertRoald Hoffmann
Roy GlauberWolfgang Ketterle
David GrossWalter Kohn
John L. HallYuan T. Lee
Serge HarocheMichael Levitt
Stefan HellJohn Mather
Jules H. HoffmannArthur B. McDonald
Klaus von KlitzingEdvard Moser
Harold KrotoMay-Britt Moser
William MoernerRyoji Noyori
Ferid MuradPaul Nurse
Ei-ichi NegishiJohn O'Keefe
Saul PerlmutterDouglas Osheroff
William PhillipsArno Penzias
Richard RobertsCarlo Rubbia
Kailash SatyarthiOliver Smithies
Brian SchmidtJack Steinberger
Hamilton O. SmithThomas Steitz
George SmootHorst Störmer
Jack SzostakThomas Südhof
Roger Y. TsienJohn Sulston
Harold VarmusJoseph H. Taylor
J. Robin WarrenCarl Wieman
Arieh WarshelDavid Wineland
Torsten Wiesel
Robert Wilson