The Doomsday Clock is a project of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, allegorically counting down the time until the possible end of the world. The watch was created to remind all people of the danger of a nuclear disaster and the existence of other global threats that could lead to the death of all living things. The essence of the project is simple - the closer the minute hand is to midnight, the more tense the situation in the world. Since 1947, scientists and experts have gathered to analyze major events and determine the position of the hands. Over time, the Clock became a recognizable symbol, and the translation of the hands turned into a big event.
The history of the Doomsday Clock
Library of Congress / United States / East News
The Doomsday Clock first appeared on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947 as a response to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - the only time in history that nuclear weapons were used in combat. The appearance of the Doomsday Clock was preceded by the “Frank Report,” a petition that nuclear physicists participating in the US nuclear weapons program (the Manhattan Project) sent to the US military leadership in June 1945. In a joint appeal, scientists asked not to drop atomic bombs on Japan and described the dire consequences of the nuclear arms race. Among those who signed the petition was Russian-born biochemist Evgeniy Rabinovich. It was he who founded the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists magazine in 1945, covering issues of international security and talking about global threats associated with nuclear weapons, climate change and new technologies. Famous contributors to the magazine include Albert Einstein, Max Born and Bertrand Russell.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Doomsday Clock for the cover announcing its appearance was drawn by artist Martyl Langsdorf, who was the wife of one of the authors of the project. According to her, the clock was set to seven minutes to midnight because “it looked good.” Moreover, initially she was going to draw a simple letter U on the cover of the Bulletin (designating uranium as a chemical element), but after listening to the conversations of physicists, she realized that the main leitmotif in the nuclear threat was haste: scientists were clearly aware that if a nuclear war swept across the world , then it will be the shortest of all.
Judgment Day according to the Koran
Anyone who believes in Allah must remember the great day when all human deeds will be presented to the divine Court. Faith on this day helps Muslims understand the meaning of life, doing only good deeds and refusing evil. Judgment Day helps humanity to move away from limited frameworks and look at the world, renouncing the vanity of the world.
Judgment Day - what is its purpose?
The religion of Islam states that the human soul can be in five stages:
- being in the eternal world of souls;
- staying in the mother's body;
- existence in the earthly world;
- being in the grave;
- the granting of eternal peace or eternal suffering after the Day of Judgment.
Judgment Day is the day of fair judgment, when Allah will weigh all a person’s actions on the scales. In order to go to heaven, a Muslim must live his life righteously, adhering to the laws of God.
A person’s life is a kind of test that will decide the fate of his immortal soul. Therefore, it is necessary to remember about Judgment Day every moment, doing good deeds and helping your neighbor.
When will Judgment Day come?
No one knows when the day of the great judgment will come. Allah chose the date in advance, but no mortal can know it.
This is the main meaning of the coming judgment. Any person must live the allotted time in anticipation of the great day, be ready to appear before the face of Allah and be responsible for his actions.
The first signs of the approaching Judgment Day:
- rejection of traditions;
- frequent drinking;
- the number of murders will become horrific;
- disappearance of justice;
- frequent deception when weighing food on scales;
- skyscrapers will spread throughout the world;
- Evil people will be in power.
Signs that Judgment Day is very close:
- The Mahdi will arrive on earth;
- the Antichrist will come to the world of the living;
- an unprecedented animal of large size will appear;
- sunrise will occur in the west;
- thick smoke will envelop the planet for 40 days.
What will Judgment Day be like?
When the great day comes, all the inhabitants of the Earth will perish. The Qur'an does not only refer to people, but to the entire universe.
All people who have ever inhabited our planet will be resurrected. They will again acquire their usual appearance. Their bodies will be freed from various injuries that a person received during his stay on earth.
All Muslims will be gathered in one place. Those who led a righteous lifestyle will be given clothing by Allah's angels. Those who violated the laws of the Koran will remain naked.
The angel will read out all the person’s deeds, dividing them into good and bad. His fate in the afterlife will depend on what deeds a person has done more.
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Who makes the decision to change the Doomsday Clock?
In the first years, the clock was “tuned” by Evgeniy Rabinovich, in consultation with his colleagues. After his death in 1973, the decision to move the hands was made by the journal's board of directors together with experts, including 18 Nobel Prize laureates. Over more than 70 years of the project’s existence, the time was changed 23 times. Each translation of the Hours is accompanied by a detailed report from the authors of the Bulletin.
Carolyn Kaster / AP / East News
The project is regularly criticized due to the lack of clear criteria. For example, futurist researcher Anders Sandberg suggested that talk about the threat of a nuclear disaster or global warming is simply artificial, and all these pessimistic forecasts not only do not provide an objective assessment, but are even misleading.
The authors of the project themselves emphasize that the Clock does not predict anything, much less show the exact time, but serves as a reminder that the end of the world is inevitable if people do not think about the consequences of their actions.
Excerpt describing the Day of Judgment
“She said... yes, she said: “girl (a la femme de chambre), put on the livree [livery] and come with me, behind the carriage, faire des visites.” [make visits.] Here Prince Hippolyte snorted and laughed much earlier than his listeners, which made an unfavorable impression for the narrator. However, many, including the elderly lady and Anna Pavlovna, smiled. - She went. Suddenly there was a strong wind. The girl lost her hat, and her long hair was combed... Then he could no longer hold on and began to laugh abruptly and through this laughter he said: - And the whole world knew... And that’s how the joke ended. Although it was not clear why he was telling it and why it had to be told in Russian, Anna Pavlovna and others appreciated the social courtesy of Prince Hippolyte, who so pleasantly ended Monsieur Pierre’s unpleasant and ungracious prank. The conversation after the anecdote disintegrated into small, insignificant talk about the future and the past ball, performance, about when and where they would see each other. Having thanked Anna Pavlovna for her charmante soiree [charming evening], the guests began to leave. Pierre was clumsy. Fat, taller than usual, broad, with huge red hands, he, as they say, did not know how to enter a salon and even less knew how to leave it, that is, to say something especially pleasant before leaving. Besides, he was distracted. Getting up, instead of his hat, he grabbed a three-cornered hat with a general's plume and held it, tugging at the plume, until the general asked to return it. But all his absent-mindedness and inability to enter the salon and speak in it were redeemed by an expression of good nature, simplicity and modesty. Anna Pavlovna turned to him and, with Christian meekness expressing forgiveness for his outburst, nodded to him and said: “I hope to see you again, but I also hope that you will change your opinions, my dear Monsieur Pierre,” she said. When she told him this, he did not answer anything, he just leaned over and showed everyone his smile again, which said nothing, except this: “Opinions are opinions, and you see what a kind and nice fellow I am.” Everyone, including Anna Pavlovna, involuntarily felt it. Prince Andrey went out into the hall and, putting his shoulders to the footman who was throwing his cloak on him, listened indifferently to the chatter of his wife with Prince Hippolyte, who also came out into the hall. Prince Hippolyte stood next to the pretty pregnant princess and stubbornly looked straight at her through his lorgnette. “Go, Annette, you’ll catch a cold,” said the little princess, saying goodbye to Anna Pavlovna. “C’est arrete, [It’s decided],” she added quietly. Anna Pavlovna had already managed to talk with Lisa about the matchmaking that she had started between Anatole and the little princess’s sister-in-law.
What does the Doomsday Clock show today?
On January 24, 2021, the clock hands remained at last year's mark of 23:58. Despite the fact that the time on the clock remained unchanged, the authors of the project clarified that this is not an indicator of stability, but a “serious warning” for world leaders and all inhabitants of the planet, since for the third time in 70 years the clock hand was so close to midnight. The clock first reached this mark in 1953, when the US and USSR were testing the hydrogen bomb and Cold War tensions were at their peak.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Bulletin President Rachel Bronson said the world was in a precarious state, far from normal. Scientists cited the improvement in relations between the United States and the DPRK and the development of technology as favorable moments, but the fact of the presence of nuclear weapons, climate change and ongoing conflicts between countries still tip the scales in a negative direction. In addition, researchers named information warfare and fake news as a new danger.
“A world in which fantasy and anger replace truth is a terrible world,” said Herb Lin, a senior fellow in cybersecurity at Stanford University.
One hundred seconds before a global catastrophe is very serious, isn’t it?
Of course. Although, let us repeat once again, these seconds are not a real (even if many times exaggerated) estimate of the time before a possible collapse, but an expert assessment of the seriousness of world problems fraught with global tragedy. This is not a signal to clutch one’s head in panic and confusion, but a call to devote all efforts to disarmament and an immediate solution to the problems that threaten humanity.
Over the 74-year history of the project, the clock hands changed their position 25 times. In 1947 they showed 23:53. In 1953, after the first hydrogen bomb test, they moved to 23:58. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the world really stood on the verge of a nuclear war: the United States was preparing a strike against the USSR, which was planning to place nuclear warheads in Cuba. But Doomsday Clock did not seem to notice that conflict: it was resolved in just over a month, and the magazine’s experts simply did not have time to react. In 1963, the time until the “Hour of Judgment” increased to 12 minutes, and the year of the collapse of the USSR, 1991, was recognized as the most prosperous from the point of view of global risks. As a result, the hand of the Doomsday Clock was moved to 23:43.
The last time the magazine's experts discussed the situation was in January 2021 and left the hands in the same position - 100 seconds to midnight. Issues such as the coronavirus or political turmoil in the United States do not yet affect the watch's readings, but serve, as the magazine's council said in a statement, "an alarming reminder that national governments and international organizations are not prepared for threats that could actually destroy civilization "
Doomsday Clock in popular culture
The clock was mentioned in the lyrics of The Clash (track It's 55 minutes past 11), The Who, Iron Maiden (track Two Minutes to Midnight), Smashing Pumpkins (track Doomsday Clock) and Linkin Park (album Minutes to Midnight), and also based on a comic book series that pits Alan Moore's Watchmen characters against the DC Universe's Batman and Superman.
Key dates and events of the Doomsday Clock
The most auspicious year in the history of the Doomsday Clock was 1991, when the USSR collapsed and the Cold War ended, when the hands showed 17 minutes to midnight.
1947: 7 minutes to midnight Setting the Clock. Cold War between the USA and the USSR.
1949: 3 minutes before midnight, the USSR tested its first nuclear bomb.
1953: 2 minutes before midnight, the USSR and the USA tested thermonuclear bombs, nine months apart.
1963: 12 minutes to midnight, the USA and the USSR signed a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests (this happened after the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is considered the most dangerous moment in human history).
1968: 7 minutes to midnight US involvement in the Vietnam conflict intensifies. France and China are creating and testing their nuclear weapons. Wars begin in the Middle East, in India.
1969: 10 minutes to midnight, the US Senate ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 1972: 12 minutes to midnight Negotiations between the USA and the USSR on the limitation of strategic arms end successfully, both sides sign an agreement.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images
1974: 9 minutes to midnight India tests its first nuclear bomb, the Smiling Buddha, and relations between the superpowers deteriorate.
1984: 3 minutes to midnight The war in Afghanistan continues, Ronald Reagan increases his aggressive rhetoric against the Soviet Union.
1991: 17 minutes to midnight The Cold War ends due to the collapse of the USSR, the United States signs an arms reduction treaty.
1995: 14 minutes to midnight "Brain drain" and nuclear technology from the countries of the former USSR.
1998: 9 minutes to midnight Nuclear weapons tests by India and Pakistan.
2015: 3 minutes to midnight Countries with nuclear weapons ignore agreements and do not reduce stockpiles, a new arms race has begun between the United States and Russia, a crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
2017: 2.5 minutes to midnight US President Donald Trump publicly denies climate change and makes controversial statements about nuclear weapons.
2018: 2 minutes to midnight North Korea continues to conduct nuclear tests, the threat of climate change grows, and tensions between the United States and Russia rise amid a possible cyber war.
Big signs
As Islam says, the speedy onset of the End of the World and the Day of Judgment will be marked by the appearance of Imam Mahdi. After him, Dajjal will appear in the world of people, and then the prophet Isa will appear from heaven to the earthly world.
Imam Mahdi will fill the earthly world with justice. In contrast to him, the Antichrist Dajjal will appear in the earthly world. Then, according to Islam, Isa will appear in the earthly world and descend from heaven to earth. Yajuj and Majuj will scatter across the earth, and then Dabbatul-ard, which is a huge animal, will appear.
The End of the World and Judgment Day will be closer than ever when the sun rises in the west instead of the east. The earth will be filled with smoke, which will remain for forty days.
According to Islam, on the eve of the Day of Judgment, strong fire will appear from the direction of Hijaz, and the contents of the holy Book of the Koran will rise to heaven.
