Stanislav Petrov.

It may be tempting to name someone like Isaac Newton, Genghis Khan, or religious persons such as
Muhammad and Jesus Christ.

However, while these people certainly had a major impact on human history, none of them played a key
role in directly preventing the (almost) extinction of the human race.

Stanislav Petrov did.

It was shortly after midnight, on September the 26th, 1983. Petrov was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet
army and the current officer in duty for one of their early warning satellites.

Petrov’s job was to look for an impending nuclear attack against the Soviet Union and to then
immediately warn his supervisors. They would then initiate a nuclear counter-attack according to their
mutual assured destruction doctrine.

While this nuclear threat was very real during the Cold War, it was probably with a sense of disbelief
that Petrov processed what his eyes were telling him. One of the computers had lit up and was showing
that one ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) was fired from the United States and was now heading
towards the Soviet Union.

Petrov dismissed it as a false alarm. After all, it was just one missile, so it could be a technical error.

However, it didn’t take long for the computer to identify that four missiles had now been detected.
Again, they were fired from U.S. soil and were headed towards the Soviet Union.

Petrov asked for additional reports and confirmation checks. Every single one confirmed the incoming
threat. Petrov’s subordinates had all jumped up from their seats and were anxiously waiting for him to
make a decision.
It is partly through luck and Petrov’s unique personality that we were spared a nuclear holocaust.

You see, Petrov was under the impression that the United States would only go for an all-out strike,
rather than initially launching just a handful of missiles. He also knew that the satellite was new and
could have some technical issues.

So, Petrov again dismissed all the reports as a false alarm, and refrained from informing his supervisors.

And it turned out that Petrov was correct. There were no missiles. It was a technical flaw in the
detection software.

This was one of the bravest decisions in human history, and certainly the one with the largest potential
consequences.

While Petrov was praised initially, he was later demoted and chose to retire. He has received no reward
and his story only became known in 1997. Last year, Petrov passed away at the age of 77.

Petrov’s story is an example of how close we have already come to destroying ourselves, but also of the
heroes that live among us and why humanity is worth preserving.