The doomsday clock is a metaphor for the state of the world. Today the clock was put forward ten seconds. It acts as a symbolic image of how serious man-made threats that can lead to disasters and climate change are at a given time in history. Today the clock was set for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. It now shows that it is 90 seconds from midnight. This is the closest to midnight he has ever been. Midnight is supposed to represent a symbolic doomsday. The watch will be unveiled by the panel of experts. Photo: ANNA MONEYMAKER / AFP Introduced in 1947 The watch was first introduced in 1947 by a group of nuclear scientists working on the Manhattan Project. Among them was Albert Einstein. In 1947, the clock read 7 minutes before midnight. Photo: Ghent University The group helped create the world’s first nuclear weapon during the Second World War. The first time the clock was set, it read seven minutes before midnight. – It is difficult to use such a watch as an indication of risk. What one can still say is that the risk of using nuclear weapons is greater now than in a very, very long time, says one of Norway’s foremost nuclear researchers and professor at the University of Oslo, Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer. – When you talk about seconds to midnight, rather than minutes, as has been the case for long periods before, it is a clear metaphor for this very thing, she adds. The war in Ukraine is brought forward The clock is set every year by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In the foundation they write, among other things, that the war in Ukraine has opened up questions about how states interact, and may be helping to erode norms for normal behaviour. – Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of conflict – by accident, intention or miscalculation – is a terrible risk. The possibility that the conflict could get out of control is high, they write in the press release.
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The doomsday clock shows that we are closer to disaster than ever before
