Keeping Track of Doomsday

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (the Bulletin), which is a media and communications organization founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists who “could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work.” The Bulletin is perhaps best known for its “Doomsday Clock,” which graphically depicts the imminence of global catastrophe in the form of the time remaining on the clock’s minute hand before midnight. The clock has become an internationally recognized symbol that has been cited in speeches by world leaders and referenced in popular culture. For nearly 65 years, the hands of the clock have moved closer to or shifted away from midnight, “to reflect the global level of nuclear danger and the state of international security.” The worst was two minutes to midnight, in 1953, when the U.S. and the Soviets, while not on speaking terms, each detonated thermonuclear tests within nine months of each other; the best was 17 minutes to midnight, in 1991, when the U.S. and Russia were unilaterally disengaging tactical nuclear weapons. Today, however, the clock stands at a disconcerting six minutes to midnight. The Bulletin has received Corporation support since 2005. Recently, Corporation funding helped the organization institute an annual Doomsday Clock Symposium, tied specifically to the nuclear disarmament agenda and the continuing dangers posed by nuclear weapons.