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Doomsday Clock

December 22, 2011 by · Comments Off on Doomsday Clock 

Doomsday ClockDoomsday Clock, The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster. As of January 14, 2010 (2010 -01-14)[update], the Doomsday Clock now stands at six minutes to midnight. Since its creation, the time on the clock has changed 19 times.

Originally, the analogy represented the threat of global nuclear war, but since 2007 it has also reflected climate-changing technologies and “new developments in the life sciences and nanotechnology that could inflict irrevocable harm.”

Cover of the 1947 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists issue that first featured the Doomsday Clock at seven minutes to midnight.Since its inception, the clock has been depicted on every cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Its first representation was in 1947, when magazine co-founder Hyman Goldsmith asked artist Martyl Langsdorf (wife of Manhattan Project research associate and Szil?rd petition signatory Alexander Langsdorf, Jr.) to design a cover for the magazine’s June 1947 issue.

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