[News Terms] 90 Seconds to Midnight: The Doomsday Clock

The 'Doomsday Clock' is a clock that indicates the danger facing human civilization due to nuclear weapons or climate change. When the clock's hands point to midnight, it signifies the end of the Earth.

In September 1945, during World War II, Albert Einstein and others who conducted the 'Manhattan Project' to develop nuclear weapons established the American University of Chicago's Nuclear Physics Society. About two years later, in June 1947, they first announced the Doomsday Clock warning of the nuclear war threat in the society's journal, BAS (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists).

Science educator Bill Nye is looking at the clock on the 23rd (local time) at the National Press Club Broadcast Center in Washington before announcing the latest decision on the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock."
[Photo by AP/ Yonhap News]

Since then, BAS has periodically adjusted the clock's minute hand to reflect the development of nuclear weapons and the level of international tension. At the time of the initial announcement, the Doomsday Clock's minute hand was set to seven minutes to midnight, indicating the outbreak of a full-scale nuclear war that would bring about humanity's destruction.

Since 2007, new threats such as global warming (climate crisis) have been included alongside war and technological advancements as factors threatening humanity. Some critics argue that it is merely a political attention-grabbing tool without objective indicators. However, the setting of the Doomsday Clock's minute hand involves about ten Nobel laureates and is recognized as an important indicator warning of the risk of Earth's end.

On the 23rd (local time), BAS announced that the Doomsday Clock's second hand would remain at '90 seconds' to midnight, symbolizing the end of the Earth. This is the same level as last year. BAS had maintained the second hand at 100 seconds to midnight since 2020 but moved it to 90 seconds last year amid heightened concerns over nuclear use following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

BAS cited the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Russia's potential use of nuclear weapons, the nuclear threat from the war between the Palestinian armed faction Hamas and Israel, the global crisis caused by climate change, and risks from destructive technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and new biotechnology as reasons for setting the clock to 90 seconds this year.

Image depicting the end of the world.
Photo by Pixabay

Rachel Bronson, BAS president, pointed out, "Conflict zones worldwide carry the threat of nuclear proliferation, and climate change is already causing death and destruction," adding, "Destructive technologies such as AI and biological research are advancing faster than safety measures." She emphasized, "The unchanged 90 seconds from last year does not indicate global stability; 90 seconds to midnight is extremely unstable."

The Doomsday Clock's minute hand has moved between 17 minutes to midnight and 2 minutes to midnight a total of 16 times so far. The closest to midnight was 2 minutes to midnight in 1953, during the height of the hydrogen bomb development race between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the farthest was 17 minutes to midnight in 1991, when the United States and Russia first declared nuclear reductions.

Afterwards, in 1995, when the U.S. and Russia did not ratify the Second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), it moved to 14 minutes to midnight; in 1998, when India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests, it moved to 9 minutes to midnight; in 2002, due to increased nuclear terrorism threats, it moved to 7 minutes to midnight; and in 2007, due to North Korea's nuclear tests and suspicions of Iran's nuclear development, it moved closer to midnight at 5 minutes to midnight.