After a considerable buildup, the atomic scientists on Tuesday (Jan 23) announced the doomsday clock will remain unchanged at 90 seconds to midnight, which is the closest it has been since it was established in 1947.
Despite the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Israel-Hamas war and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the armageddon predictors at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists keeping the clock unchanged from last year, came as a surprise to many.
However, the scientists warned that the clock not edging closer to midnight this year was not an indication of stability.
“Make no mistake: resetting the clock at 90 seconds to midnight is not an indication that the world is stable. Quite the opposite,” said Rachel Bronson, president of the bulletin.
Bronson warned that instead of ‘abandoning’ nuclear weapons, countries were upgrading their arsenal and threatening to “create a new arms race, while massive floods, fires and other disasters marked the hottest year on record by far, with little meaningful action on climate change”.
What is the Doomsday Clock?
Although the name is straight out of a sci-fi comic book, the Doomsday Clock is a symbolic timepiece, depicting how close the Earth is to annihilation.
What are the origins of the Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock’s origins lie in the creation of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago (later shortened to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) and the Manhattan Project – the secret US government mission which created the first atomic bomb.
Physicists Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein wrote a letter to US president Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, warning about the potential of an atomic bomb and how it may give the Nazis an edge if they managed to develop one.
In June 1945, Szilard, alongside other Manhattan Project scientists urged the US to publicly demonstrate the power of nuclear weapons they had developed in an uninhabited area. The idea was to use the threat to press Japan to surrender. However, the idea failed and the US dropped the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Worried about the bomb’s impact on humanity, Szilard and several other Manhattan Project scientists met and by September 1945, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was born.
As the readership grew, the magazine co-editor Hyman Goldsmith asked artist Martyl Langsdorf to come up with a design for the cover of the June 1947 edition. Martyl, married to physicist Alexander Langsdorf, who worked on the Manhattan Project came up with the idea to sketch a clock that suggested we didn’t have much time left to get the atomic weapons under control. And that’s how the Doomsday Clock was born.
What time did Doomsday Clock display at the start?
More than 76 years ago the memorable and minimalist clock and its hands were set at seven minutes to midnight, partly because it “looked good” to Martyl’s eye.
Ever since then, the clock’s hands have changed on numerous occasions. Graphic designer Michael Bierut reimagined the iconic clock in 2007.
Who decides what time is it?
In the early days, Bulletin editor Eugene Rabinowitch decided where the hand should be moved. However, after his death in 1973, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board took over.
Apart from the board, 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, usually in January.
The Doomsday Clock is located at the Bulletin office at 1307 E. 60th St., in the lobby of the Keller Center, home to the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
When was the Doomsday Clock furthest from midnight?
The clock was furthest from doomsday in 1991 when it was set 17 minutes from midnight, after the end of Cold War.
At the time, the US and Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that substantially reduced both countries’ nuclear arsenals.
What happens when the Doomsday Clock strikes midnight?
The clock has never hit midnight and according to Bronson, she hopes that it never happens.
In a release, Brinson, however, addressed the curiosity as to what happens if the clock struck 12 someday.
“When the clock is at midnight, that means there’s been some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that’s wiped out humanity. We never really want to get there and we won’t know it when we do,” she said.
If the apocalypse does arrive, not many would be concerned about the Doomsday Clock but it is a reminder to the global leaders and the layman that we near the precipice of doom and quick action is needed to stop humanity from imploding.
