On this day, October 16 in 1956, Democratic vice-presidential nominee worried aloud about H-bomb tests knocking the world off balance.
1956 VP candidate Estes Kefauver warns H-bomb tests could knock Earth off its axis by 16 degrees. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1961/11/13/page/24/article/why-sen-kefauver-is-all-bent-over
[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 314ppm. At time of writing it was 421ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]
The context was this – everyone was blowing stuff up in the atmosphere. The comprehensive test ban was not a thing until a few years later.
Why this matters.
Not all the fears of imminent doom are born out (if they were, we wouldn’t have lasted five minutes on our feet! Humans do like to catastrophise…)
What happened next?
Somebody made a very cool movie – The Day the Earth Caught Fire – about (spoilers) H-bomb tests knocking the world off its axis. Do try to catch it – it’s a corker.
