What is the doomsday clock. What is it for.?

Answer 1

Midnight = nuclear destruction.

BACK in 1947, scientists devised a “doomsday clock.” The clock symbolically reflects how close the world is to a nuclear war- should they move the hands to twelve, it means nuclear war has begun.

Answer 2

The Doomsday Clock is a method that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS) uses to depict the threat of global annihilation from nuclear weapons. The clock shows how many minutes before 12 o'clock (Doomsday) it is. As each event that occurs in the world that threatens nuclear stability (Iran obtaining the atomic bomb for example) the clock's minute hand moves closer to the Doomsday hour. As an event occurs to lessen the threat (signing of the global test ban treaty for example), the clock minute hand moves further from 12 o'clock. As of this time we are approximately five minutes until doomsday. I believe the most recent significant movement was away from Doomsday as India and Pakistan (both nuclear powers) began diplomatic discussions -- although most recently (January 2007) the BAS has become more pessimistic.

Answer 3

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clockface maintained since 1947 by the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. It uses the analogy of the human race being at a time that is "minutes to midnight" where midnight represents destruction by nuclear war. Since its introduction, the clock has appeared on the cover of each issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The first representation of the clock was produced in 1947, when artist Martyl Langsdorf, the wife of physicist, Alexander Langsdorf, Jr., who worked on the Manhattan Project, was asked by magazine cofounder Hyman Goldsmith to design a cover for the June issue.

The number of minutes before midnight, a measure of the degree of nuclear threat, is updated periodically. The clock is currently set to five minutes to midnight (the first time ever set to 5 minutes), having been advanced by two minutes on January 17, 2007.

Answer 4

The Doomsday Clock is the clock that designates how close we are to annihilating our world. Supposedly, when the hands reach 12:00, that's it for us. It has been set at 2 minutes before 12:00 once before (during the Cuban Missile Crisis) and currently it is getting close to the 12:00 setting again (since China shot down one of its satellites)...but hey, I think it will definitely reach twelve o'clock high if Hillary gets elected President. BOOM!

Answer 5

It is a fictitious clock set up during the cold war that estimated the likelyhood of the world being destroyed you nukes. The number to stay away from is 12:00 because at that time it's all over. We obviously want the clock to be representing the wee hours of the day as oppposed to the late hours.

Answer 6

it is the clock that supposedly counts down until the end of the world. personally, i don't believe in it.

Answer 7

It is counting down to the end of the world for those believe the notion.