What Is the Doomsday Clock?

The Doomsday Clock has moved closer to midnight, from two-and-a-half minutes to two minutes. In announcing the decision, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited “the failure of President Trump and other world leaders to deal with looming threats of nuclear war and climate change”.

But what is the Doomsday Clock, and how accurate is it?

A Brief History of the Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock was created by the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947 as a response to nuclear threats. The concept is simple – the closer the minute hand is to midnight, the closer the board believes the world is to disaster.

The clock was originally conceived by a group of atomic scientists who had been involved with the Manhattan Project, the scheme responsible for the first nuclear weapons. The scientists regularly produced a bulletin detailing progress and updates in nuclear weaponry and the clock was first designed as an illustration for the cover of the first edition.