20th Century The Man Who Saved the World died today

[Dry Rot]

Stanislav Petrov, the Soviet officer who saved the world from nuclear war, dies at 77

Good read. And just as relevant today.

The man credited with saving the world from nuclear disaster during the Cold War has died in Moscow aged 77. Stanislav Petrov was a Soviet officer on duty the night of September 26, 1983, when an early warning system flashed a warning that the US had launched missiles against the USSR.

Petrov, from a secret command centre outside Moscow, could have immediately instigated a retaliation with a phone call. Instead, the then 44-year-old lieutenant colonel trusted his gut, which told him it was it was merely a system malfunction. And after five nerve-wracking minutes, he made a decision that may have prevented a nuclear war.

He turned out to be right. The false alarm was apparently triggered when the Soviet satellite mistook the sun's reflection off the tops of clouds for a missile launch.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-...aved-the-world-from-nuclear-war,-dies/8960296