Timeline

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has informed the world what time it is since 1947, when its now-famous "Doomsday Clock" first appeared of the cover of the magazine. Since then, the minute hand of the clock has moved forward and back to reflect the global level of nuclear danger and the state of international security.

2002  1998  1995  1991  1990  1988

1984  1981  1980  1974  1972  1969

1968  1963  1960  1953  1949  1947

Mar/Apr 2002		2002 | Seven minutes to midnight
		Little progress is made on global nuclear disarmament. The United States rejects a series of arms control treaties and announces it will withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Terrorists seek to acquire and use nuclear and biological weapons.
		View the press conference webcast. Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Sep/Oct 1998		1998 | Nine minutes to midnight
		India and Pakistan "go public" with nuclear tests. The United States and Russia cannot agree on further deep reductions in their nuclear stockpiles.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Jan/Feb 1996		1995 | Fourteen minutes to midnight
		Further arms reductions stall while global military spending continues at Cold War levels. Risks of nuclear "leakage" from poorly guarded former Soviet facilities increase.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Dec 1991		1991 | Seventeen minutes to midnight
		The United States and the Soviet Union sign the long-stalled Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and announce further unilateral cuts in tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Apr 1990		1990 | Ten minutes to midnight
		The clock, redesigned in 1989, reflects democratic movements in Eastern Europe that shatter the myth of monolithic communism; the Cold War ends.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Jan/Feb 1988		1988 | Six minutes to midnight
		The United States and the Soviet Union sign a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces; superpower relations improve; more nations actively oppose nuclear weapons.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Jan 1984		1984 | Three minutes to midnight
		The arms race accelerates. "Arms control negotiations have been reduced to a species of propaganda. . . . The blunt simplicities of force threaten to displace any other form of discourse between the superpowers."
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Jan 1981		1981 | Four minutes to midnight
		Both superpowers develop more weapons for fighting a nuclear war. Terrorist actions, repression of human rights, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Poland, and South Africa add to world tension.
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Jan 1980		1980 | Seven minutes to midnight
		The deadlock in U.S.-Soviet arms talks continues; nationalistic wars and terrorist actions increase; the gulf between rich and poor nations grows wider.
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Sep 1974		1974 | Nine minutes to midnight
		SALT talks reach an impasse; India develops a nuclear weapon. "We find policymakers on both sides increasingly ensnared, frustrated, and neutralized by domestic forces having a vested interest in the amassing of strategic forces."
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Jun 1972		1972 | Twelve minutes to midnight
		The United States and the Soviet Union sign the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; progress toward SALT II is anticipated.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Apr 1969		1969 | Ten minutes to midnight
		The U.S. Senate ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Jan 1968		1968 | Seven minutes to midnight
		France and China acquire nuclear weapons; wars rage in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Vietnam; world military spending increases while development funds shrink.
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Oct 1963		1963 | Twelve minutes to midnight
		The U.S. and Soviet signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty "provides the first tangible confirmation of what has been the Bulletin's conviction in recent years--that a new cohesive force has entered the interplay of forces shaping the fate of mankind."
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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Jan 1960		1960 | Seven minutes to midnight
		The clock moves in response to the growing public understanding that nuclear weapons made war between the major powers irrational. International scientific cooperation and efforts to aid poor nations are cited.
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Sep 1953		1953 | Two minutes to midnight
		The United States and the Soviet Union test thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another.
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Oct 1949		1949 | Three minutes to midnight
		The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.
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Jun 1947		1947 | Seven minutes to midnight
		The clock first appears on the Bulletin cover as a symbol of nuclear danger.
		Read the announcement.  Access the contents of the entire issue through the Bulletin archive.

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