On this day, 67 years ago, January 13, 1958 (November 24, 1957, the lunar calendar), more than 9,000 scientists called for the signing of an international agreement banning nuclear weapons. The emergence of nuclear weapons was the result of major developments in science and technology around the 1940s. The United States became the first country to possess an atomic bomb. On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb explosion test was carried out in the Alamocode Desert in New Mexico. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the only two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. In August 1949, the Soviet Union conducted an atomic bomb test. Britain's first nuclear test was successful in 1952. France: The first nuclear test was successful in 1960. China successfully tested its first atomic bomb on October 16, 1964. India conducted a nuclear test in 1974. In August 1957, the United States, Britain, France and Canada raised the issue of nuclear non-proliferation to the United Nations Disarmament Subcommittee. On January 13, 1958, more than 9000 scientists from 43 countries submitted a petition to United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, requesting the signing of an international agreement banning the testing of nuclear weapons. In 1961, Ireland submitted a draft International Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear Proliferation to the 16th session of the General Assembly. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons on June 12, 1968. It was opened for signature in Moscow, London and Washington on July 1. It came into force on March 5, 1970 and will be valid for 25 years. On May 11, 1995, the Review and Extension Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons decided to extend the treaty indefinitely. As of May 1995, a total of 179 countries had ratified or acceded.