Doomsday Clock turns 70

The June 1947 issue of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (right) introduced the “Doomsday
Clock” to the world – its hands set at seven minutes to midnight – as a graphic warning
against the proliferation of nuclear weapons


END OF WWII AND BEYOND…

1945: U.S. conducts first nuclear test in New Mexico and drops two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, Japan

1947: Cold War begins as U.S. foreign policy pledges to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism

1949: Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) begins nuclear weapons tests in Kazakhstan

2007: Clock redesigned

2017: Two and a half minutes to midnight


ADJUSTMENTS TO DOOMSDAY CLOCK

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 

minutes to midnight (doomsday hour)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

1947: Clock introduced

1949

1953: U.S. and U.S.S.R. start testing hydrogen bombs

1960

1963 

1968

1969

1972

1974

1980

1981

1984: U.S.-Soviet relations reach lowest point in decades

1988

1990

1991: Cold War officially ends. U.S. and Russia begin cutting nuclear arsenals

1995

1998

2002

2007

2010

2012

2015

Clock not adjusted in real time as events occur. Science and Security Board meets twice a
year to discuss global events

Sources: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, wire agencies

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