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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.

Doomsday Clock

January 14, 2010 by · Comments Off on Doomsday Clock 

rt_doomsday_100113_mnDoomsday Clock:The world can breathe a sigh of relief today… kind of.

A group of international scientists this morning announced that they are moving the hands of the symbolic “Doomsday Clock” away from midnight — or the figurative apocalypse — but only by one minute.

The clock, which is maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, was designed to reflect how close civilization is to “catastrophic destruction.” First set at seven minutes to midnight, the clock has been moved only 18 times since its creation in 1947.

The group, which includes more than a dozen Nobel laureates, last moved the hands of the clock in 2007, from seven to five minutes before midnight to reflect the threat of a “second nuclear age” and the challenges presented by global warming.

Today, at a press conference in New York, the Bulletin announced that despite the looming threats of nuclear weapons and climate change, it would move the hands of the clock from five to six minutes before midnight.

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