felis_ultharus

metawidget posted this, and I'd never heard the story before.

The full story is here, but the gist of it that Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov had to make a decision on whether or not to destroy the world. He was getting false readings that the Americans were launching missiles at Russia.

He chose to assume it was computer error, rather than inform his superiors of a possible attack as he was supposed to -- knowing that those superiors would probably, in turn, have launched a retaliatory attack that would have ended in all-out nuclear war. He was interrogated for not following procedure, and left the military a few months later.

His cool head probably saved all life as we know it. As a reward, is currently living in poverty in the town of Fryazino, on a pension equivalent to $200 American a month.

Anyway, there's a movement afoot to call September 26 "Petrov Day." There are probably few other individuals more deserving of a day in their honour.