35 years go: the clever decision that prevented a nuclear war

"...one of the Soviet satellites sent a signal to the bunker that a nuclear missile attack was underway. The warning system's computer...concluded that a missile had been launched from...the United States.

The responsibility fell to Petrov, then a 44-year-old lieutenant colonel, to make a decision: Was it for real? Petrov was...overseeing a staff that monitored incoming signals from the satellites. He reported to superiors at warning-system headquarters; they, in turn, reported to the general staff, which would consult with Soviet leader Yuri Andropov... Petrov's role was to evaluate the incoming data. At first, the satellite reported that one missile had been launched then another, and another. Soon...five Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles had been launched, it reported.

Despite the electronic evidence, Petrov decided and advised the others that the satellite alert was a false alarm, a call that may have averted a nuclear holocaust. But he was relentlessly interrogated afterward, was never rewarded for his decision and today is a long-forgotten pensioner living in a town outside Moscow."