The Man who Saved the World from a Nuclear WAR - No he was not a politician!

Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov of the Soviet Air Defense Forces was the officer on duty during the night of the “American missile attack.” It was his responsibility to observe the satellite early warning network and to inform his superiors in case of a missile attack.

The actions from there were predetermined - implement the Soviet Union’s counter-attack strategy based on the doctrine of mutually assured destruction.

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The Cold Warimage credit

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It was shortly after midnight on the morning of 26 September 1983 when the Soviet early warning system reported that on intercontinental ballistic missile was heading toward the Soviet Union from the United States. Petrov had to make a decision!

A warning to his superiors would not necessarily have triggered a nuclear war, but the American–Soviet relationship was at a point where an attack was expected. Using his judgement, Petrov considered the detection a computer error and disregarded the warning. In a later interview, he said that his decision was based on his believe and training that a first-strike nuclear attack by the United States would involve hundreds of missiles to prevent a counterattack. He was also suspicious of the satellite system's reliability.

Not long after the first warning, the computer system identified four additional missiles on their way towards the Soviet Union.

Again Petrov had to rely on his judgement. In line with his first decision, Petrov suspected the computer system’s reliability and dismissed the alarm as a false warning. Later investigations after the event found that the false warnings were caused by a rare alignment of sunlight on high-altitude clouds and the satellites' orbits.

After reporting the incident the following day, Petrov was intensely interviewed by his superiors about his decisions.

Initial he was praised by General Yury Votintsev, who were the commander of the Soviet Air Defense's Missile Defense Units. His superiors attitude of gratitude later turn into accusations as the bugs found in the missile detection system reflected poorly on them.

Petrov received no reward for his actions. Instead, he was reassigned to a less sensitive post, retired early and suffered a nervous breakdown.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall – which mark the end of the Soviet Union – General Votintsev’s memoirs were published. Media reports picked up the incident from these journals and increased the public awareness of Petrov’s actions.

On 21 May 2004, Petrov received a World Citizen Award and $1000 from the San Francisco-based Association of World Citizens to recognition his deed of averting a catastrophe. In January 2006, Petrov was honored in a meeting at the United Nations in New York City and received a second special World Citizen Award. Films were created out of the numerous interviews with Petrov. In Germany, he received the German Media Award on 24 February 2012 and on 17 February 2013 the Dresden-Preis and 25 000 euros.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov