Stanislav Petrov

The man who saved the world

Timeline of Lieutenant Colonel Petrov's Life

1. 1939 - Born in Vladivostok, Soviet Union, on Sep 7 (present-day Russia).
2. 1972 - Graduated from the Kyiv Military Aviation Engineering Academy, and joined the Soviet Air Defence Forces.
3. 1973 - Assigned to work on new early-warning systems, intended to detect ballistic missiles launched from NATO countries.
4. 1983 (Nuclear False Alarm Incident)
   • On Sep 26, Petrov was the officer on duty at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow, where he monitored the Soviet early-warning satellites.
   • If inbound missiles were detected, the Soviet Union would launch an immediate nuclear counter-attack against the United States and its NATO allies.
   • Shortly after midnight, the early-warning system reported a Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) heading toward the Soviet Union from the United States.
   • Petrov considered the detection a computer error, since he believed that any nuclear attack would likely involve hundreds of missiles, in order to prevent a Soviet counter-attack. Furthermore, he had been skeptical of the system's reliability in the past.
   • Petrov dismissed the warning as a false alarm and his suspicions were confirmed when no missile had in fact arrived.
   • It was later determined that the system mistook the sun's reflection off of clouds for a missile.
5. 1984 - Left the military and got a job as a senior engineer at the research institute that had developed the Soviet Union's early-warning system.
6. Circa 1995 - Retired early in order to take care of his wife, who had been diagnosed with cancer.
7. 2004 - The Association of World Citizens gave Petrov its World Citizen Award, along with a trophy and $1,000, "in recognition of the part he played in averting a catastrophe".
8. 2007 - During a visit to the United States for the filming of the documentary The Man Who Saved the World, Petrov toured the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, where he got the chance to witness the last intact Minuteman ICBM system.
9. 2013 - For his actions in averting a potential nuclear war, Petrov was awarded the Dresden Peace Prize in Dresden, Germany, on February 17.
10. 2017 - Stanislav Petrov died on May 19 from pneumonia. He was 77 years old.

"It is hard to imagine anything more devastating for humanity than all-out nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. Yet this might have occurred by accident on September 26, 1983, were it not for the wise decisions of Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov. For this, he deserves humanity's profound gratitude."

— Former United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon

Further Reading/Viewing

• Vox article explaining how Petrov may have saved over 2 billion lives.
• The Man Who Saved the World, a film about Lieutenant Colonel Petrov's life and his role in preventing a nuclear holocaust.
• Wikipedia entry for Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov.
• New York Times article written shortly after Petrov's death.
• Wikipedia entry for the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident.
• NPR Article referring to Petrov as "The Man Who Saved The World".
• The official website of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.
• In the effective altruism movement, Sep 26 is commemorated as Petrov day.