The Doomsday Clock now shows 85 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to a nuclear catastrophe in history. This was reported by the president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at a recent event.
The Doomsday Clock was first introduced on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947. The time remaining until midnight symbolizes the level of geopolitical tension, where midnight represents a potential nuclear apocalypse. In recent years, the clock's hands have only moved closer to this alarming mark.
In 2020, the time first showed 100 seconds to nuclear midnight, and in 2021, the hands remained at that level. In 2023, they approached the critical mark, leaving 90 seconds to midnight. For 2024, the time remained unchanged, but in 2025, the hands were moved one second forward.
The most tranquil moment in the history of the clock was in 1991, when the hands retreated 17 minutes from nuclear catastrophe. This occurred after the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) between the USSR and the USA, aimed at reducing the number of nuclear warheads and their delivery systems—ballistic missiles, bombers, and submarines.
In 2018 and 2019, the time showed two minutes to midnight, which coincided with a similar position of the hands in 1953, during the hydrogen bomb tests in the USA and the USSR.
