Doomsday: Friday, November 13, AD 2026
Science Journal Set Doomsday for Friday the 13th: November 2026
A 1960 paper said world population would go infinite on November 13, 2026. Growth has been slowing for decades.
What was said
“Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026: At this date human population will approach infinity if it grows as it has grown in the last two millenia.”
— Heinz von Foerster, P. M. Mora and L. W. Amiot (paper in Science) · said Nov 4, 1960 · due Friday, November 13, 2026
The most academically formatted doomsday on file, and the next one due. The paper's own condition: growth 'as it has grown in the last two millenia.'
The fine print
The quote is the paper's full title as printed in Science (published in print November 4, 1960; vol. 132, issue 3436, pp. 1291-1295; DOI 10.1126/science.132.3436.1291; authors Heinz von Foerster, Patricia M. Mora and Lawrence W. Amiot, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana). 'Millenia' is the journal's spelling. By extrapolating faster-than-exponential population growth, the authors found the doubling time would hit zero, meaning infinite population, on Friday, November 13, 2026 (per Wikipedia, von Foerster's 115th birthday anniversary). The world growth rate peaked at about 2.09% in 1968 and was about 1.09% by 2018 (Wikipedia, The Population Bomb). Other population forecasts on file: population-bomb-1970s, ehrlich-england-2000.
Later spin
Wikipedia now calls the paper 'tongue-in-cheek'.
Sources
- Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026 - von Foerster, Mora and Amiot, Science vol. 132, issue 3436, pp. 1291-1295 (Nov 4, 1960), DOI 10.1126/science.132.3436.1291accessed 2026-10-09
- Heinz von Foerster (Doomsday equation) - Wikipediaaccessed 2026-09-29
- The Population Bomb - Wikipedia (growth-rate figures)accessed 2026-09-29