The man who didn't start WW3 has died

[MarkV]

A former Soviet military officer credited with averting a possible nuclear disaster at the peak of the Cold War has died at the age of 77.
Stanislav Petrov was on duty at a Russian nuclear early warning centre in 1983 when computers wrongly detected incoming missiles from the US.
He took the decision that they were a false alarm and did not report them to his superiors.

I wonder if an AI would have made the same decision

A later investigation concluded that Soviet satellites had mistakenly identified sunlight reflecting on clouds as the engines of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Which shows how easily WW3 could have been started. One wonders how good NK's early warning systems will be.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41314948

[nastle]

He deserves the Nobel peace prize not likes of Arafat and Obama

[Colonel Sennef]

Originally Posted by nastle

He deserves the Nobel peace prize not likes of Arafat and Obama

That would have been a very appropriate idea
and RIP Stanislav Petrov

[Urban hermit]

We should all pray that he has a counterpart in North Korea...

A Soviet soldier credited with saving the world from nuclear holocaust has died at age 77.

Stanislav Petrov was the duty officer monitoring an early warning system from a bunker outside Moscow on Sept. 26, 1983, when the radar screen suddenly appeared to depict a missile inbound from the United States.

“All my subordinates were confused, so I started shouting orders at them to avoid panic," Petrov told the Russian news agency RT in 2010. "I knew my decision would have a lot of consequences."
The alert siren wailed. A message on the bunker's main screen reported that four more missiles had been launched, he said. Petrov had 15 minutes to determine whether the threat was real and report to his commanders.
“My cozy armchair felt like a red-hot frying pan and my legs went limp," he told RT. "I felt like I couldn't even stand up. That's how nervous I was."
The incident occurred at a time of high tension between the countries. Less than a month earlier, the Russian military had shot down a Korean Air Lines flight that had deviated from its flight plan and flown over Russian airspace. The Berlin Wall would not come down for six more years.

Petrov, thinking that any U.S. attack should have involved even more missiles to limit the chance of Soviet retaliation, told his Kremlin bosses the alert must have been caused by a malfunction. He persuaded Moscow not to shoot back.

It was later determined that Russian satellites must have mistaken sunlight reflecting off clouds for nuclear missiles.

Petrov's reward? He was chastised for failing to provide proper paperwork, he said.

“My superiors were getting the blame and they did not want to recognize that anyone did any good, but instead chose to spread the blame," Petrov said.

The incident remained classified for 15 years, before a Kremlin colonel publicly discussed the incident. A German magazine picked up the story, and Petrov became a minor media star.

In 2013, Petrov was awarded the Dresden Peace Prize. In 2014, Kevin Costner starred in a drama-documentary The Man Who Saved the World, detailing Petrov's story.

A German activist who helped globalize the news of Petrov's deed called him this month to wish him a happy birthday — and was in informed by Petrov's familly that the nuclear hero had died in May amid little fanfare at his home in a small town near Moscow. It was a fitting end to a man who always had spoken modestly about his role in history.

“At first when people started telling me that these TV reports had started calling me a hero, I was surprised," he told RT in 2010. "I never thought of myself as one. After all, I was literally just doing my job."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...ies/ar-AAs8jOr

[slick24]

RIP

[Merkava188]

He should have gotten a medal from the C.I.A..

[Imperial]

Originally Posted by MarkV

I wonder if an AI would have made the same decision

Which shows how easily WW3 could have been started. One wonders how good NK's early warning systems will be.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41314948

It only shows sensationalistic journalism and conflicting claims.

His duty was to report up the chain of command. Petrov doing this wouldn't have resulted in WW3 in a knee-jerk fashion since the incoming launch would have had to be confirmed from other sources too (early warning radars). It wasn't.

The conflicting claims part regards whether he actually withheld information from his superiors.

In the BBC article he claims he did. But years ago he claimed something else:

Usually, Petrov said, one report of a lone rocket launch did not immediately go up the chain to the general staff and the electronic command system there, known as Krokus. But in this case, the reports of a missile salvo were coming so quickly that an alert had already gone to general staff headquarters automatically, even before he could judge if they were genuine.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...ter021099b.htm

Normally he must have informed his superiors to put the nuclear forces on alert, pending further information/confirmation of incoming missiles. If he didn't then he would have been court martialled.

[T. A. Gardner]

I truly think if there was a man that avoided WW 3, this was him.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov

Had he not been aboard Foxtrot submarine B-59 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the sub's captain would have almost certainly launched the sub's nuclear torpedo, likely sinking the US carrier USS Randolph or some of her escorts.
He singularly stood between the start of a nuclear war and avoiding it, as the sub's Captain and Political officer agreed on a launch.

[Salinator]

Originally Posted by T. A. Gardner

I truly think if there was a man that avoided WW 3, this was him.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov

Had he not been aboard Foxtrot submarine B-59 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the sub's captain would have almost certainly launched the sub's nuclear torpedo, likely sinking the US carrier USS Randolph or some of her escorts.
He singularly stood between the start of a nuclear war and avoiding it, as the sub's Captain and Political officer agreed on a launch.

Is he Harrison Ford or Liam Neeson?

[T. A. Gardner]

Originally Posted by Salinator

Is he Harrison Ford or Liam Neeson?

Harrison Ford. He was the squadron commander and aboard along with the boat's Captain (Neeson).

[Merkava188]

Wasn't NATO running an exercise at the time called Able Archer?