Apocalypse almost now: Doomsday Clock reset at 90 seconds to midnight

Instituted in 1947 by a group of atomic scientists including Albert Einstein, the Doomsday Clock is a symbolic timepiece showing how close the world is to its end.

With the threat of a nuclear war, volatile climatic changes coupled with the hide and seek game between man and the pandemic, humanity is closest to its end - 90 seconds to midnight to be precise. Scientists have now reset the Doomsday Clock and the world now is closest to its extinction than it ever was.

Weighing the revived nuclear threats in the wake of Ukraine-Russia war, an esteemed group of scientists reset the symbolic timepiece on 25 January 2023 reminding the world that humanity is existing barely by a thread and urged the world leaders to act to turn the Clock back.

What is Doomsday Clock?

Instituted in 1947 by a group of atomic scientists, including Albert Einstein, Doomsday Clock is a symbolic timepiece showing theoretically how close the world is to annihilation. Midnight marks the theoretical point when the human would cease to exist.

According to Reuters, a Chicago-based non-profit organization called the 'Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' updates the time annually based on information regarding catastrophic risks to the planet and humanity.

The Clock's hands are moved closer or further away from the midnight mark based on the scientists' reading of the threats that plague the world at the given time.

In the early days, 'Bulletin' Editor Eugene Rabinowitch decided whether the hand should be moved. A scientist himself, fluent in Russian, and a leader in the international disarmament movement, he was in constant conversation with scientists and experts within and outside governments in many parts of the world.

When Rabinowitch died in 1973, the Bulletin's board took over the responsibility. The board of scientists and 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.

Apocalyptic threats could arise from political tensions, weapons, technology, climate change and even pandemic illness. It also tracks the alarming threats that come as side effects of disruptive technologies, including in biotechnology.

Why is the Doomsday needle closest to midnight now?

The threat of a nuclear war is not a hypothetical scenario anymore and the world is at terrible risk, the scientists now warn.

At a news conference in Washington on Tuesday, Rachel Bronson, the Bulletin's president and CEO said, "Russia's thinly-veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict - by accident, intention or miscalculation - is a terrible risk. The possibilities that the conflict could spin out of anyone's control remains high."

Doomsday message in Russian, Ukrainian too

The announcement, for the first time ever, would also be translated in Russian and Ukrainian so that the message reaches the relevant countries. Bronson said that moving the clock closer to midnight than ever was "a decision we do not take lightly," and a reflection of how "we are living in a time of unprecedented danger."

She urged Western countries and Ukraine to redouble their efforts for a negotiated solution. "The US government, its NATO allies and Ukraine have a multitude of channels for dialogue; we urge leaders to explore all of them to their fullest ability to turn back the Clock," Bronson was further quoted as saying in media reports.

The group, whose roots can be traced back to the design and use of the first nuclear weapons, also said that fighting around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and the exclusion zone around the disused Chernobyl meltdown site exacerbated the atomic risks.

7 minutes to midnight in 1947

The nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 led to a lot of shifts in the way the world was, and it also led to the inception of Doomsday Clock.

The official website of the bulletin of atomic scientists states that the Bulletin has reset the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock 25 times since its debut in 1947, most recently in 2023 when it was moved to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight.

The Clock's original setting in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight. It has been reset backward eight times and forward 17 times so far. Before the latest reset, the clock stood at 100 seconds to midnight and was set in 2020.

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