The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, maintained since
1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is
to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global
disaster. The most recent officially announced setting—five
minutes to midnight (11:55pm)—was made on January 10, 2012.
Reflecting international events dangerous to humankind, the
clock's hands have been adjusted twenty times since its
inception in 1947, when the clock was initially set to seven
minutes to midnight (11:53pm). Originally, the clock analogy
represented the threat of global nuclear war; however, since
2007 it has also reflected climate-changing technologies and
"new developments in the life sciences that could inflict
irrevocable harm." Since its inception, the clock has been
depicted on every cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists. Its first representation was in 1947, when magazine
co-founder Hyman Goldsmith asked artist Martyl Langsdorf (