Doomsday Clock Moved Closer to Midnight

Doomsday Clock Moved Closer to Midnight





    
 
January 2007  - The minute hand of 
the Doomsday Clock will be moved closer to midnight on January 
17, the first such change to the clock since February 2002. 
The Doomsday Clock has become a universally recognized 
indicator of the world's vulnerability to nuclear weapons and 
other threats. 
The move was announced today by the Board of Directors of the 
magazine "The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists." 
It reflects growing concerns about what the board calls a 
"Second Nuclear Age" marked by grave threats, including 
nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear 
materials in Russia and elsewhere, and the continuing 
"launch-ready" status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons 
held by the U.S. and Russia. 
The board also cited "escalating terrorism, and new pressure 
from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that 
could increase proliferation risks." 
The Doomsday Clock is now set at seven minutes to midnight. 
(Photo courtesy Wikipedia) 
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clockface that the Bulletin 
has maintained since 1947 at its headquarters on the campus of 
the University of Chicago. 
It uses the analogy of the human race being at a time that is 
a "few minutes to midnight" where midnight represents 
destruction by nuclear war. 
The decision to move the minute hand is made by the Bulletin's 
Board of Directors in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, 
which includes 18 Nobel Laureates. 
Officials from the Bulletin will move the minute hand on 
January 17 simultaneously in two places at two different local 
times - at 9:30 am ET at the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science in Washington, DC, and at 2:30 pm GMT 
in London at The Royal Society. 
Speakers at the event in Washington will include Kennette 
Benedict, executive director of the Bulletin, Ambassador 
Thomas Pickering, a member of the board and co-chair of the 
International Crisis Group; and Lawrence Krauss, professor of 
physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University. 
Speakers at the London event will be Sir Martin Rees, 
president of The Royal Society, and professor of cosmology and 
astrophysics and master of Trinity College at the University 
of Cambridge; and Stephen Hawking, professor of mathematics at 
the University of Cambridge, a fellow of The Royal Society, 
and a member of the Bulletin's Board of Sponsors. 
The "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" was founded in 1945 by 
University of Chicago scientists who had worked on the 
Manhattan Project and were deeply concerned about the use of 
nuclear weapons and nuclear war. The magazine is published six 
times per year. 
In June 1947 the Bulletin introduced its clock to convey the 
perils posed by nuclear weapons through a simple design. 
The first representation of the clock was produced in 1947, 
when artist Martyl Langsdorf, the wife of a physicist who 
worked on the Manhattan Project, was asked by magazine 
cofounder Hyman Goldsmith to design a cover for the June 
issue. 
The Doomsday Clock has appeared somewhere on the cover of each 
issue of the Bulletin since its introduction. The nontechnical 
magazine covers global security and public policy issues 
related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of 
mass destruction. 
History of the Doomsday Clock 
The clock's minute hand has been moved 17 times in response to 
international events since its initial start at seven minutes 
to midnight in 1947:
1949 - The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb. Clock 
changed to three minutes to midnight - four minutes closer to 
midnight. 
1953 - The United States and the Soviet Union test 
thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another. Clock 
changed to two minutes to midnight - one minute closer, its 
closest approach to midnight to date. 
1960 - In response to a perception of increased scientific 
cooperation and public understanding of the dangers of nuclear 
weapons, clock is changed to seven minutes to midnight - five 
minutes further from midnight. 
1963 - The United States and Soviet Union sign the Partial 
Test Ban Treaty, limiting atmospheric nuclear testing. Clock 
changed to twelve minutes to midnight - another five minutes 
further. 
1968 - France and China acquire and test nuclear weapons - 
1960 and 1964 respectively - wars rage on in the Middle East, 
Indian subcontinent, and Vietnam. Clock changed to seven 
minutes to midnight - five minutes closer to midnight. 
1969 - The U.S. Senate ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty. Clock changed to ten minutes to midnight - three 
minutes further from midnight. 
1972 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the SALT I 
- Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) and the Anti-Ballistic 
Missile Treaty. Clock changed to twelve minutes to midnight - 
two minutes further. 
1974 - India tests a nuclear device - Smiling Buddha - SALT II 
talks stall. Clock changed to nine minutes to midnight - three 
minutes closer to midnight. 
1980 - Further deadlock in US-USSR talks, increase in 
nationalist wars and terrorist actions. Clock changed to seven 
minutes to midnight - two minutes closer. 
1981 - Arms race escalates, conflicts in Afghanistan, South 
Africa, and Poland. Clock changed to four minutes to midnight 
- three minutes closer. 
1984 - Further escalation of the arms race under the U.S. 
policies of Ronald Reagan. Clock changed to three minutes to 
midnight - one more minute closer. 
1988 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union sign treaty to eliminate 
intermediate-range nuclear forces, relations improve. Clock 
changed to six minutes to midnight - three minutes further 
from midnight. 
1990 - Fall of the Berlin Wall, success of anti-communist 
movements in Eastern Europe, Cold War nearing an end. Clock 
changed to ten minutes to midnight - four minutes further. 
1991 - United States and Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms 
Reduction Treaty. Clock changed to seventeen minutes to 
midnight - seven minutes further, its greatest distance from 
midnight so far. 
1995 - Global military spending continues at Cold War levels; 
concerns about post-Soviet nuclear proliferation of weapons 
and brainpower. Clock changed to fourteen minutes to midnight 
- three minutes closer to midnight. 
1998 - Both India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons in a 
tit-for-tat show of aggression; the United States and Russia 
run into difficulties in further reducing stockpiles. Clock 
changed to nine minutes to midnight - five minutes closer. 
2002 - Little progress on global nuclear disarmament; United 
States rejects a series of arms control treaties and announces 
its intentions to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile 
Treaty; terrorists seek to acquire nuclear weapons. Clock 
changed to seven minutes to midnight - two minutes closer.