Stanislav Petrov
Officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, noted for not executing a nuclear strike during a nuclear false alarm incident (1939-2017) · Russia · On the map · Died at 77
On the night the Soviet early-warning system screamed that American missiles were inbound, the duty officer at the console decided the machines were lying. That call - disobeying protocol, trusting his gut over five separate launch signals - is why the Cold War stayed cold.
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Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov was born 7 September 1939 and rose to lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defence Forces. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviets shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, he was manning the command center for the Oko early-warning system when it reported a U.S. missile launch, then up to four more. He judged them false alarms and refused to pass the warning up the chain, violating military protocol. An investigation later confirmed the satellite system had malfunctioned. Because a retaliatory strike would likely have triggered full-scale nuclear war, Petrov's choice that night is often described as having saved the world. He died 19 May 2017.