![]() ![]() The Bulletin set the hands at 11:57 in 1949 as the Soviet Union’s testing of an atomic bomb signaled our impending doom.īut it was in 1953 that scientists warned leaders of the world were playing with fire. The most dangerous time in global history was 1953 when the clock was at Two minutes to midnight. It’s an activity of scientists, but it’s not necessarily science. It’s purely a judgment call by very smart people, many of them scientists. ![]() They consult widely with their colleagues across a range of disciplines and also seek the views of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors, which includes 16 Nobel laureates. The board is made up of scientists and other experts with deep knowledge of nuclear technology and climate science, who often provide expert advice to governments and international agencies. Based on these discussions, he decided where the clock hand should be set and explained his thinking in the Bulletin’s pages.Īfter his death, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board took over the responsibility and has since met twice a year to discuss world events and reset the clock as necessary. A scientist himself, fluent in Russian, and a leader in the international disarmament movement, he was in always in communication with scientists and experts within and outside governments all over the world. While it’s only a virtual clock, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists keep one as a prop…of Doom!įor the first 20 years, one man decided had his hand on the doomsday clock – Eugene Rabinowitch (1901-1973). She set the original Clock at seven minutes to midnight because, she said, “it looked good to my eye.” Langsdorf realized that a clock better conveyed the urgency of the looming nuclear dangers. The first time was set at seven minutes before midnight because the artist, Martyl Suzanne Schweig Langsdorf, liked the look of it.Īccording to Kennette Benedict, the Bulletin’s executive director, the clock was almost a “U”, the chemical symbol for uranium. Scientists regularly produced a bulletin about nuclear weaponry and the clock was originally just an illustration for the cover of the first bulletin. The minute hand of the clock has been stuck just a midnight snack away from global apocalypse for decades. Since 1947, the clock has moved backward and forwards – from seventeen minutes to midnight in 1991 and two minutes to midnight in 1953. The concept is pretty simple – the closer the minute hand is to midnight, the closer the world is to Armageddon.įrom “Doctor Who” episodes to “Smashing Pumpkins” songs, the Doomsday Clock is the most recognizable and lasting icon of nuclear danger in popular culture. The Doomsday Clock is the fateful brainchild of a group of atomic scientists who worked on the first nuclear weapons. ![]()
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