Doomsday Clock

Submission 29,030

About

The Doomsday Clock is a symbol maintained by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists depicting the countdown till a potential catastrophic event which could threaten the survival of the human race, represented as midnight on a clock.

Origin

In June 1947, the Chicago Atomic Scientists, a group of researchers who participated in the Manhattan Project, unveiled the Doomsday clock on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists magazine, representing the time as seven minutes to midnight (shown below). The clock was originally conceived to represent the threat of nuclear disaster. In 2009, The Bulletin ceased publishing in print and became an entirely digital publication at TheBulletin.org.^[6]

Spread

In 2010, the clock was moved from five to six minutes to midnight following worldwide cooperation reduce nuclear arsenals and address climate change. On January 13th, 2013, the clock was moved back to five minutes to midnight, citing lack of global political action to limit the effects of climate change and threats of nuclear conflict.^[7] On January 18th, the DNews YouTube channel uploaded an episode discussing the Doomsday Clock (shown below).

On January 22nd, 2015, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists posted an update that the clock had been moved to three minutes to midnight amid concerns about the threat of global climate change, nuclear weapons in Russia and the United States and issues related to nuclear waste disposal.^[2] On March 14th, 2016, Xkcd^[5] released a comic titled "Doomsday Clock" (shown below).

On December 18th, 2016, YouTuber dontbomiran uploaded a documentary on the Doomsday Clock (shown below). On January 25th, 2017, the clock was moved to two-and-one-half minutes to midnight based on the "rise of nationalism," Donald Trump's comments on the proliferation of nuclear weapons and skepticism over the scientific consensus over climate change by the Trump administration.^[4] The occasion marked the Clock's closest approach to midnight since 1953. On January 26th, Redditor Sportsguru34 submitted a post asking about the Doomsday Clock to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[3] where it received more than 2,000 points (89% upvoted) and 420 comments within four days.

On January 25, 2018, the bulletin moved the clock to two minutes to midnight due to many world leaders' lack of response to climate change and nuclear threats, along with public figures abusing social media. As of the day of their statement, it is the closest approach to midnight since 1953.^[8]