Stanislav Petrov

Anniversaries are marking September 26, 1983, when Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov was on duty at a nuclear early-warning command center. His system falsely reported incoming American missiles; Petrov judged the alert to be a malfunction and did not report it as an attack, averting a possible retaliatory strike. Commenters are sharing his story as a reminder of how close the world came to catastrophe and of one man's calm judgment.