The anti-nuclear emblem or the peace sign is one of the most widely known symbols in the world. It was invented for the British ‘campaign for nuclear disarmament’ or CND. The symbol was designed from the naval code of semaphore - the code letters for N and D (nuclear disarmament).
The symbol was quickly adopted in the US when a friend of Martin Luther King Jr. began using it during civil rights marches. Deliberately never copyrighted, the symbol is still recognized in great Britain as the logo for nuclear disarmament, but is known worldwide for peace and non-violence. No one has to pay or to seek permission before they use it. As a symbol of freedom, it is free for all.
The first badges were made using white clay with the symbol painted black. They were distributed with a note explaining that in the event of a nuclear war, these fired pottery badges would be among the few human artefacts to survive the nuclear inferno.