![]() ![]() “The editors were afraid that the nuclear weapons they had helped create were not fully understood by either politicians or the public,” says Mecklin. The clock came about simply because the association’s editors-most of whom had been scientists working on the Manhattan nuclear project during World War II-wanted a striking cover for the first issue of the new magazine they were launching. Gabel trace the history of the clock, which they argue is “the most powerful piece of informational design of the 20th century.” ![]() In their unnervingly entertaining new book, The Doomsday Clock at 75, Robert K. “But they also realised there would be others.” Powerful wake-up call The early atomic scientists “knew that nuclear weapons were the first human creation that could literally end civilisation,” Mecklin says. In recent years, the committee has even added the rapid spread of disinformation to its growing list of existential threats to humanity. “Climate change, biological threats, artificial intelligence-there are lots of emerging issues that could threaten the planet,” says Mecklin. Now, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board considers more than just the nuclear threat when deciding where to set the clock’s hands each year. When the clock was first depicted on the June 1947 issue-set at seven minutes to midnight-the editors were concerned solely with the likelihood that atomic bombs would soon rain down on the world’s capitals. That’s a pretty grim way to celebrate your 75th birthday, but as Bulletin editor John Mecklin observes, the ingredients for a possible doomsday scenario are more numerous than ever. The clock is reset every January, and not even at the height of the Cold War, when Americans were digging fallout shelters and kids were being told to “duck and cover” under their school desks in case of atomic attack, were the clock’s hands this far into the final countdown. The iconic clock has been the symbol of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientistsever since, and as the clock turns 75, the group’s experts say we’re closer than ever to that dreadful wakeup call. In 1947, a group of scientists who had worked on the first nuclear weapons dreamed up the Doomsday Clock as a metaphor warning just how close humanity was to destroying itself. put it another way: “It's the End of the World as We Know It.” That’s the interval on the symbolic Doomsday Clock between the present moment and “planetary catastrophe.” The alternative rock band R.E.M. More than 75 years ago, it began ticking at seven minutes to midnight.Īt 17 minutes to midnight, the clock was furthest from "doomsday" in 1991, as the Cold War ended and the United States and Soviet Union signed a treaty that substantially reduced both countries' nuclear weapons arsenals.Regardless of what your watch tells you, it’s 100 seconds to midnight. The clock was created in 1947 by a group of atomic scientists, including Albert Einstein, who had worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the world's first nuclear weapons during the Second World War. ![]() With emissions still rising, weather extremes continue, and were even more clearly attributable to climate change," Kartha said, pointing to the devastating flooding in Pakistan in 2022 as an example. "Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, after having rebounded from the COVID economic decline to an all-time-high in 2021, continue to rise in 2022 and hit another record high. IAEA putting staff in all Ukrainian nuclear plants due to safety concerns.Doomsday Clock remains at 100 seconds to midnight amid climate change, cybersecurity and pandemic.The organization's board of scientists and other experts in nuclear technology and climate science, including 13 Nobel Laureates, discuss world events and determine where to place the hands of the clock each year.Īpocalyptic threats reflected by the clock include politics, weapons, technology, climate change and pandemics. ![]() Clock updated annuallyĪ Chicago-based non-profit organization, the bulletin updates the clock's time annually based on information regarding catastrophic risks to the planet and humanity. The bulletin's announcement will for the first time be translated from English into Ukrainian and Russian to garner relevant attention, Bronson said. The possibilities that the conflict could spin out of anyone's control remains high," Rachel Bronson, the bulletin's president and CEO, told a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. "Russia's thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict by accident, intention or miscalculation is a terrible risk. Duration 0:47 Atomic scientists say the chance of a nuclear accident, strike or other disaster is now so high that they have moved the hands of their 'Doomsday Clock' closer than ever to midnight, which marks the theoretical point of annihilation from some global catastrophe. ![]()
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