The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic representation of the global threat of a catastrophic event, such as nuclear war or climate change. It was created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group of scientists and experts who had worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons.

The clock represents the remaining “minutes to midnight”, with midnight being the hypothetical end of the world. The closer the clock is to midnight, the greater the perceived threat to mankind.

Since its creation, the clock has been adjusted 26 times, with the time ranging from two minutes to midnight in 1953 after the testing by the Soviet Union of its hydrogen bomb, to 17 minutes to midnight in 1991.

In recent years, the clock has moved closer to midnight due to increasing concerns about the threat of nuclear war and the effects of climate change. In 2020, the clock was set to 100 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been, due to the pandemic, climate issues and increasing global political tensions.

This is where the clock remains today, and time will only tell whether we continue to inch ever close to the precipice of eternal destruction.

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