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. The paper's own condition: growth 'as it has grown in the last two millenia.'
The Story
In November 1960 the journal Science published a paper whose title was the forecast. Three researchers at the University of Illinois had done the maths on world population, and the maths had a date: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026.
The Maths
The paper took the way world population had grown over the last two thousand years and carried it forward. Growth had been faster than exponential: each doubling came sooner than the one before.
Carried far enough, the doubling time shrinks to zero. Zero doubling time means infinite people, and the curve put that on a Friday the 13th.
The condition was in the title: 'if it grows as it has grown in the last two millenia.'
The Catch
It did not keep growing that way. The world growth rate peaked at about 2.09% a year in 1968 and was down to about 1.09% by 2018.
November 13, 2026 is a Friday. The paper got that part right.
Later spin
The paper has since been described as 'tongue-in-cheek'.
Receipts
Heinz von Foerster, Patricia M. Mora and Lawrence W. Amiot (Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana), 'Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026', Science vol. 132, issue 3436, pp. 1291-1295, published in print November 4, 1960. DOI 10.1126/science.132.3436.1291. The quote in the panel is the paper's full title as printed.
Growth-rate figures (about 2.09% in 1968, about 1.09% in 2018): Wikipedia, The Population Bomb. The 'tongue-in-cheek' description: Wikipedia, Heinz von Foerster.
'Millenia' is the journal's spelling.
- 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