{"id":43770,"date":"2017-09-19T04:51:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T04:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=43770"},"modified":"2017-09-19T04:51:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T04:51:23","slug":"man-saved-world-nuclear-armageddon-1983-dies-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/man-saved-world-nuclear-armageddon-1983-dies-77.html","title":{"rendered":"Man Who Saved the World From Nuclear Armageddon in 1983 Dies at 77"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man Who Saved the World From Nuclear Armageddon in 1983 Dies at 77<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Man Who Saved the World From Nuclear Armageddon in 1983 Dies at 77:- On September 26, 1983, Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov received a message that five nuclear missiles had been launched by the United States and were heading to Moscow. He didn\u2019t launch a retaliatory strike, believing correctly that it was a false alarm. And with that, he saved the world from nuclear war. But now reports have surfaced that Petrov died this past May. He was 77 years old.<\/span><\/p>\n

Karl Schumacher, a political activist in Germany, was one of the first people to publicize Petrov\u2019s story back in the late 1990s. But Schumacher reportedly learned of Petrov\u2019s death this month after contacting Petrov\u2019s home. Petrov\u2019s son Dmitry reported that the man who saved the world all those years ago had died on May 19, 2017. Schumacher confirmed Petrov\u2019s death to Gizmodo this morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov was 44 years old and working at a missile detection bunker south of Moscow on September 26, 1983. His computer told him that five nuclear missiles were on their way, and given their flight time, he had just 20 minutes to launch a counter attack. But Petrov told his superior officers that it was a false alarm. He had absolutely no real evidence that this was true, but it probably saved millions of lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe siren howled, but I just sat there for a few seconds, staring at the big, back-lit, red screen with the word \u2018launch\u2019 on it,\u201d Petrov told the BBC\u2019s Russian Service back in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u201cI had all the data [to suggest there was an ongoing missile attack]. If I had sent my report up the chain of command, nobody would have said a word against it,\u201d Petrov said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no rule about how long we were allowed to think before we reported a strike. But we knew that every second of procrastination took away valuable time; that the Soviet Union\u2019s military and political leadership needed to be informed without delay,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll I had to do was to reach for the phone; to raise the direct line to our top commanders\u2014but I couldn\u2019t move. I felt like I was sitting on a hot frying pan,\u201d Petrov said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps importantly, Petrov noted that he was the only officer around that day who had received a civilian education. Everyone else were professional soldiers and he believed that they would have simply reported the attack at face value. The men around him were \u201ctaught to give and obey orders.\u201d Luckily, Petrov disobeyed what simply didn\u2019t feel right to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Petrov reasoned that if the Americans were going to launch a first strike they\u2019d send more than five missiles, despite the fact that they could still do an enormous amount of damage. He also believed that since the alert system was relatively new it seemed likely that it could be sending a false alarm.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Petrov had been wrong, he would have compromised the Soviet Union\u2019s ability to retaliate against a nuclear strike. But if he was right, World War III would be averted. Thankfully, he was right. And sadly, his wasn\u2019t the first, nor the last, close call that the world has seen. The Cold War saw far too many false alarms triggered by everything from a computer simulation in 1979 to a NATO military exercise in 1983, just two months after Petrov\u2019s false alarm. And then there was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the Captain who defied his direct orders.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s truly amazing that the world survived the Cold War. And it\u2019ll be even more amazing if we survive the current missile crisis that\u2019s heating up on the Korean peninsula.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rest in peace, Stanislav Petrov. You may not have gotten the recognition you deserved in life, but hopefully you\u2019ll be remembered in death. Those of us living in the 21st century owe you a tremendous debt. And the best most of us can do is hope that the nuclear powers of the world learn something from your heroism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/paleofuture.gizmodo.com\/man-who-saved-the-world-from-nuclear-armageddon-in-1983-1818501062<\/span><\/p>\n

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