The Doomsday Clock: What is it and why it sped up
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has officially sped up the world’s Doomsday Clock, citing world leaders’ failure to deal with threats of nuclear war. Here’s a brief history of what the clock symbolizes and how it started.
The Doomsday Clock moved to 100 seconds to midnight – the closest symbolic point from an “apocalypse” since 1953.
The decision was made on Thursday by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, who announced it from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
“We argued that the global situation was abnormal,” Rachel Bronson, President and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists said during the press conference of the decision to keep the Clock in 2019 the same, noting that nuclear and climate situations are “worsening.”
The Clock, which warns of impending disasters and takes into account nuclear weapons, rising geopolitical tensions, as well as changes to the environment, was created in 1947 at the beginning of the arms race between the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union.
Since 2007, climate change has been a factor in the groups’ decisions.
In 2018, BAS moved the clock to two minutes to midnight, citing President Trump’s proactive rhetoric toward fellow global powers, North Korea’s continuing nuclear weapon and ballistic missile tests and heightened tensions between the U.S. and Russia.
The clock remained at two minutes to midnight in 2019, though BAS President and CEO Rachel Bronson said the lack of change “should be taken not as a sign of stability but as a stark warning to leaders and citizens around the world.”
The clock was farthest from midnight in 1991, when it was moved back to 17 minutes after the U.S. and Soviet Union signed the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
This story is developing…
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Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly, Jennifer Earl and James Rogers contributed to this story.