By Benny M.
On Tuesday, January 28th, 2025, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists officially moved the Doomsday Clock. It is now 89 seconds until midnight. Some may recognize just how grim this is; others consider the one second change to be insignificant, or not enough; and many don’t even know what the Doomsday Clock is and why it’s a big deal. In order to fully understand the change’s significance, a basic understanding of the 78-year old metaphorical countdown should happen.
Brief History of the Doomsday Clock
In 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists first introduced the Doomsday Clock as a cover for their magazine. The Bulletin is a nonprofit organization founded by Albert Einstein and other Manhattan Project scientists, which concerns issues of science and global security resulting from rapid changes in technology. Naturally, one of the main topics of discussion within the Bulletin is the threat of nuclear warfare presented by atomic bombs.
After artist Martyl Langdorf was asked to design the cover for this issue, she overheard some of the Bulletin members who had worked on the development program of the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project). They discussed how dangerous the technology of atomic weapons was and wondered how they could inform the public of its danger, which was a major threat. Hearing the urgency in their voices, she designed the original clock. When introduced, the Clock was set to its first time: 7 Minutes To Midnight.
Outside of their regular, frequent magazine and articles, the Bulletin meets annually to discuss the current state of the world. In the 78 years since the introduction of the clock, the time has been changed 26 times: closer to Midnight 18 times and farther from Midnight 8 times. All of the detailed statements and a full timeline is available on the official timeline from the Bulletin website. Here is a graph of the changes, with dots showing years where the time was changed. A slightly more detailed graph and breakdown is available on the Wikipedia page for the Doomsday Clock, which does not include full statements but does include more information than in the graph below.
Every year, a statement about the year’s progress and how humanity currently stands is shared. Overall, this has played into their decisions on whether to change the Clock’s time or not. They then reveal how close to Midnight we are, along with the year’s statement, a few speeches from choice members, and an opportunity for the press to ask questions.
The time on the clock has varied somewhat, with the farthest away from Midnight being in 1991 when the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to work on lowering the count of atomic weapons held by both countries. The Clock was set to 17 Minutes to Midnight, with the Clock’s hand moving so far back that it left the 4 dots seen in the original Clock’s design. The closest, however, was announced this week as the clock was set to 89 Seconds to Midnight. While many consider the change to be not large enough, there is unfortunately a large number of people who are disregarding the change, which was only a single second difference from the last time the Clock was changed, which was the previous lowest time in 2023 at 90 Seconds to Midnight. However, with the scale and meaning of the clock, even a one second change is a grim warning.
What is Midnight?
At this point, those who are learning of the Doomsday Clock for the first time are likely wondering what Midnight means. The Doomsday Clock is a metaphorical countdown to Midnight, which is the worst case scenario when it comes to nuclear weapons, climate change, and dangerous new technology: the end of the human species.
The closer the Doomsday Clock is to Midnight, the more worrying the situation on Earth is to the Bulletin. Midnight means that humans have advanced to the point where we have destroyed ourselves with our technology. While the Doomsday Clock was originally only targeted at nuclear apocalypse, it was expanded eventually to include climate change and technology. Should the clock ever strike midnight, it would be the end of the human race. However, it is not a prediction, but rather a metaphor. The human species has more than 89 seconds left to survive. The smaller change of only one second serves as a grim warning and reminder to the world’s leaders that change is still possible. However, for the Doomsday Clock, even one second lower is always one second too many. This change should not be taken lightly, as it’s a step closer to annihilation.
Why is Nuclear Warfare a Concern, and What Can We Do?
Everyone has a role in this situation. While the Bulletin itself changes the literal, physical Clock, it is based on the situation of the world. The Clock was created during the rise of the Cold War, at a time when fear of nuclear holocaust was a very real and dangerous threat. The nuclear Cold War continued for a long time, and is still ongoing as more and more countries test weapons, disregard the environment which supports our species, and progresses for the sake of progress without considering the consequences.
By caring more for each other as humans, and working together to save our environment as well as each other, we can hopefully contribute enough change to reverse the hand of the Doomsday Clock. Mutually assured destruction is the only outcome in a nuclear war. What good is fighting so much when we are all people? There is no winner in a nuclear war, no matter how big one side’s bomb is. Unfortunately, despite attempts made to communicate this, many governments thought that making bigger bombs would mean “beating” their opponents. Things like the Tsar Bomba (or see its' 50% power test footage), which is both the most powerful tested nuclear weapon, were created to “win” nuclear wars, even things like the proposed Project Sundial, a “Final Bomb”. Again, there is no winner in nuclear warfare. An accurate reference for understanding this idea would be the various Plans created by a Princeton University simulation in 2019, which took the most accurate available data on the world’s nuclear missile supplies and set up scenarios to calculate the destruction of nuclear warfare. In the context of the Cold War, Plan A is a specifically well crafted reference.
As humans, we have to do our part to make sure our species survives. The current path we are taking is not the right path. We need to be more caring towards others and work to end current wars and prevent future ones. We need to urge world leaders to care for the environment which keeps us alive, and we need to urge peace over violence.
It’s 89 Seconds to Midnight. And getting closer to Midnight is not a path humanity wants to take.
The only way forward is to turn the Clock back.