Stanislav Petrov; The Man Who 'Saved' the World

Stanislav Petrov, a military officer of the former Soviet Union, is said to have once 'saved the world.' However, it took months for anyone to learn of Petrov's passing. This military officer, when computer systems mistakenly warned of five missiles tracked from the U.S. towards the Soviet Union, decided not to report this alert to his superiors. For the family of Stanislav Petrov, it was unimaginable that he could have saved the world in 1983... The disaster that Petrov prevented occurred on September 26, 1983, when Petrov was working at one of Russia's early warning centers for nuclear attack, where the warning systems reported tracking missiles launched from the U.S. If Petrov had reported this message to his superiors, the Soviet army would have reacted with a retaliatory nuclear strike to this supposed U.S. missile attack. However, Petrov concealed this information from his superiors, reasoning that it seemed strange that the U.S. would attack the Soviet Union with only five missiles. Additionally, Petrov did not fully trust the newly installed warning system and considered the report a system error. It was later confirmed that Petrov was correct that night, as the satellite had mistakenly identified sunlight reflections above the clouds as missiles. Petrov was a modest and family-oriented man who was commendable in various aspects. He spent his final days in an apartment in the suburbs of Moscow with his son Dmitry. His death on May 19 of this year at the age of 77 went largely unnoticed until earlier this month, when Karl Schumacher, a German blogger and filmmaker who was a friend of Petrov, publicly revealed the news for the first time. Schumacher had called Petrov's home to wish him a happy birthday when he learned of his passing from his son. In one of the few interviews he has given, Petrov's son told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that his father had been hospitalized since November 2016 due to bowel issues, and that Petrov was also a heavy smoker. For years, many were unaware of Petrov's role in preventing a potential nuclear disaster. Dmitry mentioned that he had not informed anyone about his father's passing except for relatives, as news of celebrations and weddings are usually shared with everyone. Only when someone asked him about Petrov's death did he confirm it. According to Dmitry, 'friends and family' were very important to Petrov, so it was necessary for them to be informed of his death.