Doomsday Clock- Major Changes Timeline

Doomsday Clock for atomic fallout Major Changes Highlights timeline

The Doomsday Clock was created by the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) in 1947, after the atomic bombarding on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States, during the World War II in 1945.

Since 1947, the BAS members have adjusted the Doomsday Clock 25 times, sometimes forward, sometimes backward. Some of the major changes include:

In 1947, the Doomsday Clock was first introduced with an original setting of 7 minutes to midnight, to mark the "urgency of nuclear threats".

In 1949, The Doomsday Clock was moved 3 minutes to midnight, as the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon.

In 1953, The Doomsday Clock was moved closer, 2 minutes to midnight, as the US created and tested the hydrogen bomb.

In 1963, The Doomsday Clock was moved back, 12 minutes to midnight, as the U.S and Soviet Union signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty, which ended all atmospheric nuclear testing.

In 1969, The Doomsday Clock was moved, 10 minutes to midnight, as mostly the entire world's nations came together, and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but Israel, India and Pakistan who refused to sign the treaty.

In 1984, The Doomsday Clock moved closer, 3 minutes to midnight, as the U.S and Soviet relations reached their freezing point in decades.

In 1991, The Doomsday Clock moved back, 17 minutes to midnight, as the Cold War was officially ended and the U.S and Russia ceased their nuclear arsenals.

In 2015, The Doomsday Clock moved closer, 3 minutes to midnight, due to "unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernisations and oversized nuclear weapons arsenals.

In 2017, The Doomsday Clock moved the closest, 2.5 minutes to midnight, as a result of growing tensions between the U.S and North Korea and the U.S and Russia.

In 2018, The Doomsday Clock moved even closest, 2 minutes to midnight, as the possibility of nuclear World War III and other global threats like climate change.