• 2020 Doomsday Clock Statement

    Science and Security Board
    Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

    Editor, John Mecklin

    Founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock two years later, using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the planet. The decision to move (or to leave in place) the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock is made every year by the Bulletinโ€™s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 13 Nobel laureates. The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the worldโ€™s vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies in other domains.

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