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NEW YORK CITY In the autumn of 1969, a young doctoral student thumbs through a magazine published by his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Vietnam War is raging. Richard Nixon is president. The Manson killings have just horrified America with their Helter Skelter depravity.
But a different kind of headline blows Michael Oppenheimer’s mind: “The Modification of Planet Earth by Man.”
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“Man’s technology is changing the physical environment in ways which are not clearly understood,” reads the introduction to the piece, by pioneering climate scientist Gordon MacDonald. “The results could endanger man’s future on earth.”