Washington, D.C., USA, 23 January 2019: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will host a live international news conference at 10 a.m. EST/15:00 GMT on Thursday, January 24, 2019 to announce whether the minute hand of the iconic ‘Doomsday Clock’ will be adjusted, the Bulletin announced through a Press communiqué. The decision is made by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board in consultation with the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors, which includes 14 Nobel Laureates, the communiqué said. The factors contributing to the decision about the Doomsday Clock time will be outlined on January 24, the communiqué further said.

In January 2018, the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand was set forward by 30 seconds, to two minutes before midnight, the closest it has been to apocalypse since 1953, in the early years of the Cold War, the communiqué said. The Doomsday Clock’s movement in 2018 was influenced in large part by the failure of world leaders to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, the communiqué further said. Previously, the Clock was moved from three minutes to midnight to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight in January 2017, the communiqué also said. Now, the question is whether, or not, circumstances have improved sufficiently to start moving the minute hand away from midnight, the communiqué added.

The communiqué said, news event speakers for the Doomsday Clock announcement on January 24, 2019, will include:

• Rachel Bronson, President and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• Jerry Brown, Former California Governor; Executive chair, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• William J. Perry, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense; Chair, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Board of Sponsors
• Robert Rosner, William E. Wrather Distinguished Service professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics, University of Chicago and Chair, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board
• Sharon Squassoni, Research Professor of Practice, Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University and member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board for nuclear risk
• Susan Solomon, Atmospheric Chemist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Science,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board for climate change, and
• Herb Lin, Senior Research Scholar for cyber policy and security, Stanford University; Hank J. Holland fellow in Cyber Policy and Security, Hoover Institution at Stanford and member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board for cyber/disruptive technologies.