What is the Doomsday Clock? Do you Know

 

What is the Doomsday Clock? Do you Know

Doomsday Clock has been counting down the minutes and seconds for 76 years, but on 24th January 2023, it was set to 90 seconds to midnight, which is the closest it has ever been to the actual time. The point of destruction is symbolized by midnight in mythology. Read here to know about the doomsday clock.

According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Doomsday Clock is a symbol that denotes the propensity for a human-caused global calamity.

This year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward, largely (though not exclusively) because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine.

The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight-the closest to the global catastrophe it has ever been.

History of the Doomsday clock

The Doomsday clock was created by Scientist  Albert Einstein and researchers from the University of Chicago who worked on the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic weapons, by combining nuclear explosion imagery with the apocalypse (midnight) and the countdown to zero (zero) of modern culture.

The Doomsday Clock is set every year by the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 10 Nobel laureates.

The Clock’s original setting in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight. It has since been set backward eight times and forwards 17 times for a total of 25, the farthest from midnight being 17 minutes in 1991, and the nearest being 90 seconds, set on January 24, 2023.

• At 17 minutes to midnight, the clock was furthest from doomsday in 1991 as the Cold War ended and the US and Russia (then the Soviet Union) signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).