“It would be strange if the clock weren’t turned back,” says Niels van Willigen, senior lecturer in international relations at Leiden University. ‘If you look around the threats you according to it Bulletin of Atomic Scientists they are dangerous, the danger has only increased.
Since 1947, a group of scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, have kept the tradition of the doomsday clock alive. This clock serves as a symbolic warning to world leaders, that the closer the hands are to midnight, the greater the possibility of humanity’s destruction.
Atomic bomb Japan
The origins of the watch date back to the early years of the Cold War when the Soviet Union and the United States were testing nuclear weapons. The fear of a nuclear catastrophe was great at the time, so that the clock was moved from seven to two to twelve at that time. ‘Scientists who were themselves involved in the development of the atomic bomb founded this organization after seeing the extent of the damage caused by the atomic bomb in Japan. This club has warned of the danger of nuclear weapons ever since.”
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The scope of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists expanded. ‘They’re not just looking at the atomic bomb, but also at climate change. It’s about doomsday, the day the world ends,’ says Van Willigen.
Positive
The current 100 seconds, more than a minute and a half, before 12, has been on the clock since 2020 and is the most pessimistic image ever. “We saw the most positive picture in 1991 when the clock was set at 17 minutes to 12,” says Van Willigen.
It Bulletin of Atomic Scientists will announce today at 16:00 what will happen to the clock. If the clock is actually moved today, the hand should be approaching 12. ‘It’s not hard science, but it’s a warning. It means something, it’s a kind of thermometer that indicates where we are in the world».
And while it’s not a scientific instrument, the Doomsday Clock’s value is great, thinks Van Willigen. “It’s a well-known symbol, a lot of people have heard of it, and it has real impact.”