Stanislav Petrov

Forty-one years ago, on September 26, 1983, Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov judged a false alarm that warned of an incoming American nuclear strike. Rather than report an attack up the chain, he treated the alert as a system error, averting a potential retaliatory launch. Commentators are marking the anniversary as a reminder of how close the Cold War came to catastrophe and how much rested on one individual's calm decision.