[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 161 (Wednesday, November 13, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING MARTYL LANGSDORF, CREATOR OF THE BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC 
                       SCIENTISTS' DOOMSDAY CLOCK

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BILL FOSTER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 13, 2013

  Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Martyl Langsdorf, who 
created the image of the now-iconic Doomsday Clock for the June 1947 
cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a publication founded 
by University of Chicago scientists who had worked on the Manhattan 
Project, including her husband, physicist Alexander Langsdorf. Martyl's 
Clock remains a singular reminder of the risks we face from nuclear 
weapons and the effects of climate change.
  A renowned landscape painter and longtime resident of Schaumburg, 
Illinois, Martyl died at the age of 96 on March 26, 2013, and will be 
remembered tomorrow at the Bulletin's Fifth Annual Doomsday Clock 
Symposium here in the nation's capital. Fittingly titled 
``Communicating Catastrophe,'' the Symposium will reflect Martyl's 
sensitivity to the urgency of existential threats--and her brilliance 
in using art and design ``to move past the numbness and create new ways 
of feeling, just as we tap science for new ways of knowing,'' said 
Bulletin Executive Director Kennette Benedict.
  Martyl's legacy continues as members of the Bulletin's Science and 
Security Board annually assess the state of world affairs and use the 
hands of the Clock to signal humanity's capacity to meet the challenges 
of nuclear weapons and climate change. World attention to the Doomsday 
Clock confirms the impact of what designer Michael Bierut, in a 2010 
tribute to Martyl titled ``Designing the Unthinkable,'' called ``the 
most powerful piece of information design of the 20th century.''
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the late 
Martyl Langsdorf for raising the world's awareness about grave threats, 
and also the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists for providing 
information and analysis that points to a safer world.
  And to close on a personal note, it was at one of Martyl Langsdorf's 
annual ``Peony Parties'' at her garden in Schaumburg, during a long 
conversation with wise old lawyer and Bulletin stalwart Lowell 
Sachnoff, that was one of the first times I began seriously considering 
stepping away from my career in science to begin one in public service.

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