The authoritative guide to ensuring science and technology make life on Earth better, not worse.

Virtual tour: Turn Back the Clock

Learn about the significance of the Doomsday Clock and how it has evolved to include risks we face today. Originally on display at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, the Turn Back the Clock exhibit is now available for visitors worldwide to explore online.

Through compelling personal stories, innovative interactive media, and pop culture artifacts, the exhibit takes guests through seven decades of history—from the dawn of the nuclear age to significant policy questions our leaders face today.

The virtual tour is best viewed on a desktop or tablet device. Tap on the interactive markers to focus on an artifact or panel, and tap again to enlarge those items further. To see a collection of the artifacts, click here.

Virtual tour produced by Thomas Gaulkin

Learn more about the tour

In the video below, Bulletin President and CEO Rachel Bronson talks about the virtual exhibit, the organization's history, and how you can help turn back the clock. 

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Take a closer look at artifacts in the tour:

Ford Motor Company's Nucleon car design (1958)

The Ford Nucleon, nuclear-powered car of the future
Mathematician Peter Lax of the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project oral history: Peter Lax
The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab is a toy lab set that was produced by Alfred Carlton Gilbert in 1950.

World’s Most Dangerous Toy? Radioactive Atomic Energy Lab Kit with Uranium (1950)
Manhattan Project scientist Leo Szilard writes a petition to U.S. President Harry S. Truman

Manhattan Project scientists to President Harry S. Truman: Don’t use atomic weapons in World War II
People’s Climate March in New York City, 2014

People’s Climate March in New York City, 2014
Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein's Manifesto

Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein’s Manifesto
The first issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists begins publishing in 1945
Doomsday Clock Announcement Graphics

Doomsday Clock conversations
The cover of "The World Set Free" by H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells’ novel ‘The World Set Free’ predicts atomic warfare
Still from the Johnson campaign’s infamous “Daisy Girl” TV commercial

President Lyndon B. Johnson and the ‘Daisy Girl’ nuclear war commercial
In the early 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission funded the Argonne Cancer Research Hospital in Chicago, which successfully pioneered the use of radiation in cancer treatment.

‘Atoms for Peace,’ cancer research and nuclear energy in a postwar America
Scientists from the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory, a Manhattan Project Site

How the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists got its start
U.S. President Barack Obama (left) and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev (right)

President Barack Obama, New START and reducing carbon emissions
Poster for Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove"

Stanley Kubrick’s doomsday machine and ‘Dr. Stangelove’
U.S. President Barack Obama Meets with Urban Debate National Tournament Champions

President Barack Obama: People Appeal for Change
Jean Bacher of the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project oral history: Jean Bacher
Photo of Martyl Langsdorf, designer of the Doomsday Clock (courtesy of Joel DeGrand Photography)

Martyl Langsdorf, designer of the Doomsday Clock
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (left) and U.S. President Ronald Reagan (right)

President Ronald Reagan, the USSR’s Mikhail Gorbachev and the INF Treaty
The cover of 'Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb,' a graphic novel by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm.

‘Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb’ by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm
Workers at the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a Manhattan Project Site

The Manhattan Project: The race to build the atomic bomb
Eugene Rabinowitch in 1958 / courtesy of LIFE magazine

Who sets the Doomsday Clock?
Eyewitness Account and Sketch of the Trinity Test by Manhattan Project Physicist Luis W. Alvarez, 1945 / Reproductions Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration

Trinity: The first nuclear bomb test
Mary Lou Curtis of the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project oral history: Mary Lou Curtis
Albert Einstein (left) and Leó Szilárd (right) together in 1946.

Albert Einstein, Leó Szilárd and the letter that led to Manhattan Project
IBM’s Watson, an artificial intelligence (AI) computer system, became a celebrity when it successfully won $1,000,000 on Jeopardy!.

Artificial intelligence and disruptive technology
Workers at the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a Manhattan Project Site

The Manhattan Project: The race to build the atomic bomb
Mathematician Peter Lax of the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project oral history: Peter Lax
U.S. President Barack Obama (left) and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev (right)

President Barack Obama, New START and reducing carbon emissions
The cover of "The World Set Free" by H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells’ novel ‘The World Set Free’ predicts atomic warfare
In the early 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission funded the Argonne Cancer Research Hospital in Chicago, which successfully pioneered the use of radiation in cancer treatment.

‘Atoms for Peace,’ cancer research and nuclear energy in a postwar America
IBM’s Watson, an artificial intelligence (AI) computer system, became a celebrity when it successfully won $1,000,000 on Jeopardy!.

Artificial intelligence and disruptive technology
The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab is a toy lab set that was produced by Alfred Carlton Gilbert in 1950.

World’s Most Dangerous Toy? Radioactive Atomic Energy Lab Kit with Uranium (1950)
Ford Motor Company's Nucleon car design (1958)

The Ford Nucleon, nuclear-powered car of the future
The cover of 'Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb,' a graphic novel by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm.

‘Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb’ by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm
Photo of Martyl Langsdorf, designer of the Doomsday Clock (courtesy of Joel DeGrand Photography)

Martyl Langsdorf, designer of the Doomsday Clock
People’s Climate March in New York City, 2014

People’s Climate March in New York City, 2014
U.S. President Barack Obama Meets with Urban Debate National Tournament Champions

President Barack Obama: People Appeal for Change
Eugene Rabinowitch in 1958 / courtesy of LIFE magazine

Who sets the Doomsday Clock?
Eyewitness Account and Sketch of the Trinity Test by Manhattan Project Physicist Luis W. Alvarez, 1945 / Reproductions Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration

Trinity: The first nuclear bomb test
Scientists from the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory, a Manhattan Project Site

How the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists got its start
Still from the Johnson campaign’s infamous “Daisy Girl” TV commercial

President Lyndon B. Johnson and the ‘Daisy Girl’ nuclear war commercial
Manhattan Project scientist Leo Szilard writes a petition to U.S. President Harry S. Truman

Manhattan Project scientists to President Harry S. Truman: Don’t use atomic weapons in World War II
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (left) and U.S. President Ronald Reagan (right)

President Ronald Reagan, the USSR’s Mikhail Gorbachev and the INF Treaty
Jean Bacher of the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project oral history: Jean Bacher
Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein's Manifesto

Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein’s Manifesto
Mary Lou Curtis of the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project oral history: Mary Lou Curtis
The first issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists begins publishing in 1945
Doomsday Clock Announcement Graphics

Doomsday Clock conversations
Albert Einstein (left) and Leó Szilárd (right) together in 1946.

Albert Einstein, Leó Szilárd and the letter that led to Manhattan Project
Poster for Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove"

Stanley Kubrick’s doomsday machine and ‘Dr. Stangelove’

Thanks to the generous sponsors of this exhibit and virtual tour

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

William and Eleanor Revelle

Holthues Trust

Anonymous

N Square Collaborative

Lee Francis and Michelle Gittler