"With the recent publication of The Doomsday Clock at 75 by Robert K. Elder and J.C. Gabel (Hat and Beard Press), at last I am formally introduced to a history of a symbol that for some reason is arguably less well-known than other popular cautionary signs.

“'The Doomsday Clock is many things all at once: It’s a metaphor, it’s a logo, it’s a brand, and it’s one of the most recognizable symbols of the past 100 years,' write Elder and Gabel in the introduction to their fascinating origin story. 

"The ominous clock was designed in June 1947 by Chicago landscape artist Martyl Suzanne Schweig Langsdorf, who went by the mononym Martyl, for the cover of the nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “'The Clock sits at the crossroads of science and art,' they add, 'and therefore communicates an immediacy that few other forms can. As designer Michael Bierut says, the Clock is ‘the most powerful piece of information design of the 20th century.’ The Doomsday Clock has permeated not only the media landscape, but also culture itself.” - Steven Heller

Article: The Daily Heller: Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick …