Futures Discovery | كشف آينده : Significant Events of Contemporary Futures Studies

By: Alireza Hejazi

Surfing on my readings, I recorded the decade in the second column in which the following significant events in the futures field occurred. Many are mentioned in Cornish’s Futuring others were searched for on the web. I have placed an "X" in the last column for what I believe are the top 10 most significant events in the development of futures studies as a field.

The following table was the output of my assignment titled: “Significant Events”. I found it useful to be published also on my website as a directory of Futures events for the students and all who are interested in knowing more about the field.

Event:	Decade	Most significant
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World	1930
Alvin Toffler, Future Shock & NYU course	1970	X
Association of Professional Futurists	1970
Bertrand de Jouvenal, The Art of Conjecture	1960	X
Christian Futures Network	1990
Commission on the Year 2000	1960
Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society	1970
Donnella Meadows, et. al., The Limits to Growth	1970
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward	1880
Erich Jantsch, Technological Forecasting in Perspective	1960
First Global Conference on the Future, WFS, Toronto	1980
First International Future Research Conference, Oslo	1960
Fred Polak, The Image of the Future (Dutch Version)	1950	X
Fred Polak, The Image of the Future (English Version)	1960
Future Survey	1990
George Orwell, 1984	1980
Graham Molitor and George Thomas Kurian, Encyclopedia of the Future	1990
H.G. Wells, Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought	1890
H.G. Wells, Radio address where he proposed creating Faculties and Departments of Foresight	1930	X
Harold Lasswell, The Policy Sciences	1990
Harrison Brown, The Challenges of Man's Future	1950
Herman Kahn and Anthony Weiner, The Year 2000	1960
Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War& Thinking about…	1960
Howard Didsbury, "Visions, Nightmares and Forecasts," TV course from Kean College	1990
Hudson Institute	1980	X
Institute for the Future	1990
James Dator, Virginia Polytechnic Institute	1990
John Naisbitt, Megatrends	1980
Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon	1860
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto	1840
Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope	1960
Louis-Sébastien Mercier, L’Ann 2440	1770
Ossip K. Flechtheim, the term "futurology"	1940
RAND Corporation	1950	X
Raymond A. Bauer, Social Indicators	1960
Richard Slaughter, The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies	2000
Studies of the Future, UHCL	1980
Ted Gordon and Olaf Helmer, first public use of Delphi method	1950	X
The Club of Rome	1960
The Delphic Oracle - This one is important, but since it does not have a defined decade, we are giving it to you.	Long time ago!
The Futures Group	1970
Thomas More, Utopia	1500	X
U.S. Executive Office of the President, Social Indicators 1973	1970
Wendell Bell, "The Sociology of the Future", Yale University	1970
Wendell Bell, The Foundations of Futures Studies	1990	X
William F. Ogburn, Recent Social Trends in the United States	1930
World Future Society	1970	X
World Futures Studies Federation	1970
World Network of Religious Futurists	1980

Decade

Most significant