French astrologer Nostradamus predicted that the world would end on this day. "The year one thousand nine ninety-nine seven month / From the sky shall come a great King of terror...," he wrote. Nostradamus has been right a lot many times though.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was widely deemed as a piece of architecture that could end the world. The machine's mini black holes did not end the world but instead widened the horizon of scientific curiosities.
American evangelist Harold Camping predicted a series of devastating earthquakes on May 21, 2011. The prediction further stated that the quakes will end all life on October 21. The world, of course, did not end then either.
A top-grossing film at the time, '2012' teased the end of the world. This was the last date on the ancient calendar created during Mayan civilisation. The date became a popular subject of media speculation as an expected moment of world cataclysm.
A numerologist, David Meade, in his book 'Planet X - 2017 Arrival', claimed that a planet would collide and destroy Earth on this date. He said that the date was written in code in Giza's pyramids. The date came and went without such event.
Some credible claims suggest Earth may not support human life by the end of 21st century. But a global consensus to limit the planet's warming may well prevent that. The world may not exactly end. But a threat to human civilisation, as we know it, cannot be ruled out.