On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima, Japan, ushering in the nuclear era and forever altering the landscape of international security, ethics, and scientific responsibility.

Nearly eighty years later, the University of Chicago hosted 20 Nobel laureates and 60 nuclear experts for a three-day conference, the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War, organized by a group of laureates, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, UChicago’s Existential Risk Laboratory, and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Among the attendees was William E. Moerner, the Harry S. Mosher Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and a 2014 Nobel Laureate. Representing The Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University were Co-Director Scott Sagan; William J. Perry Lecturer Rose Gottemoeller; Senior Research Scholar Herbert Lin and Senior Research Scholar Emeritus Lynn Eden; Senior Fellow Emeritus Siegfried Hecker; and the Frank Stanton Professor of Nuclear Security Tom Dannenbaum.

“I was most struck by the participants listening so closely to each other,” said Lynn Eden. “It was a real learning experience for everyone in the room, from specialists in international security to Nobelists.”

The institution's role in the origins of nuclear science made it a powerful host for the event. The University of Chicago was home to the world’s first nuclear reaction, a moment that helped launch the nuclear era. Now, decades later, it became a venue for experts and laureates to reckon with that legacy and imagine a different future.

The event featured panel discussions and presentations from experts, all of which laid the groundwork for the release of the Nobel Assembly’s Declaration of Nuclear Risk, a document that distilled the participants' insights and urgency into a set of concrete recommendations for leaders and policy makers around the world, carrying a clear message: the nuclear status quo is no longer stable.

“Despite having avoided nuclear catastrophes in the past, time and the law of probability are not on our side,” read the declaration. “Without clear and sustained efforts from world leaders to prevent nuclear war, there can be no doubt that our luck will finally run out.”

The Declaration, aiming to establish a set guiding principles to shape nuclear diplomacy in the decades ahead, called on states to reiterate their commitment to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Outer Space Treaty with updates to account for new and evolving technologies.

The assembly warned that emerging technologies, specifically artificial intelligence, are rapidly changing the nuclear landscape, introducing new vulnerabilities alongside potential tools for oversight. Participants called on all nuclear armed states to ensure human control and oversight over nuclear command and control, increase decision-making timelines for determining the reliability of information received and institute the “two-person rule,” ensuring at least two individuals are involved in the decision-making in the use of nuclear force.

“No world leader should be faced with having to decide on the use of nuclear weapons in very short times as they are today,” commented Herbert Lin.  “This is intolerable, it doesn’t have to be this way, and I am glad the statement called attention to it.”

The list of actions concluded by reflecting on the devastation brought on by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, urging world leaders to remember the grave humanitarian consequences of nuclear war. Experts and laureates called on every nation to increase investments and cooperative research into the impacts of nuclear conflict including, environmentally, socially, militarily and economically.

“This meeting was both fascinating and foreboding to me at the same time. There are many aspects to consider when nuclear conflicts, deterrence, AI, missile defenses, and international agreements are concerned, and I was fortunate to be able to learn about and discuss these issues with the arms control experts at the meeting,” explains William E. Moerner. “Contemplating the increasing probability of nuclear war took me back to my childhood in the 1960s, when the concern at that time included details in the general press about personal bomb shelters, fallout, drills, etc. In the decades since, I have marveled that nuclear war did not happen, partly due to the well-known concept that “cooler heads prevailed”. Today, I don’t see as many “cooler heads” holding the reins of power, which concerns me greatly.”

The conference culminated with a public concert from the Grammy-Award-winning Kronos Quartet and guest singer Allison Russell. The performance included a rendition of the 1962 Bob Dylan song “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” and string quartet instrumental pieces interwoven with spoken-word stories from experts at the conference, of nuclear near-misses and moments that almost ended the world. The result was not only an artistic achievement but an illustration of global unity in the face of indiscriminate threats.

Scott Sagan noted, “Bob Dylan ended “Hard Rain” with the moving lyric ‘I’ll know my songs well, before I start singing.’ That is what this meeting of Nobel Laureates and nuclear experts did for all of us.  We discussed multiple nuclear risks and potential solutions from many different perspectives and it helped us better craft a statement about practical steps to reduce the danger of nuclear war.”

The declaration left readers with a final plea from Nobel Laureates Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein: “We appeal as human beings to human beings: remember your humanity and forget the rest.” A call that left laureates and experts with a sobering reminder: “Our survival and the survival of future generations are at stake.”