The Doomsday Clock, which symbolically shows the threats facing humanity around the world, is being updated today. It had maintained its position by being fixed at 90 seconds to midnight for 2024. While the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine war, and climate disasters continue to wreak havoc, it is not expected that the clock will be turned back. So how long is it until humanity is wiped out in a possible nuclear disaster?
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists evaluates the Doomsday Clock every January.
The clock, which symbolically shows how close humanity has come to extinction, will be announced in a live broadcast today (January 28).
The Doomsday Clock, which was brought to life by famous physicist Albert Einstein and has been determining the time until humanity will destroy itself for over 75 years, is determined by a committee that includes the Scientists’ Science and Security Board and 11 Nobel Prize winners.
While regional crises such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Israel-Hezbollah tension seriously threaten global stability, the climate crisis also plays an important role in determining this symbolic clock.
WHAT IS THE Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock that shows how close the world is to a man-made global catastrophe, as accepted by experts. Every year, the clock is updated according to how close we are to the complete extinction of humanity (midnight). If the clock moves forward and approaches midnight (compared to the previous year), this means that humanity is getting closer to self-destruction. However, if it goes back further than midnight, it shows that humanity has reduced the risks of global catastrophe in the past 12 months. In some years, the hands of the clock do not move at all (as in 2021 and 2022), indicating that the global situation has not changed. The time is determined by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit organization based in Chicago that publishes an academic journal.
WHAT TO EXPECT THIS YEAR
Experts say the clock may be moved forward for the first time in two years due to reasons such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the threat of nuclear war and climate change.
The clock showed 7 minutes to midnight in 1947 and was changed 18 times until 2007.
The longest period of Doomsday possibility until now was recorded as 17 minutes, following the end of the Cold War in 1991.
How close has the clock gotten to midnight in the last 75 years?
1947-48: 7 minutes 1949-52: 3 minutes 1953-59: 2 minutes 1960-62: 7 minutes 1963-67 : 12 minutes 1968 : 7 minutes 1969-71 : 10 minutes 1972-73 : 12 minutes 1974-79 : 9 minutes 1980 : 7 minutes 1981-83 : 4 minutes 1984-87 : 3 minutes 1988-89 : 6 minutes 1990 : 10 minutes 1991-94 : 17 minutes 1995-97 : 14 minutes 1998-2001 : 9 minutes 2002-06 : 7 minutes 2007-09 : 5 minutes 2010-11 : 6 minutes 2012-14 : 5 minutes 2015-16 : 3 minutes 2017 : 2.5 minutes 2018-19 : 2 minutes 2020-22 : 100 seconds 2023 : 90 seconds
2024: 90 seconds
