MILITARY PERSONNEL

Stanislav Petrov

1939 - 2017

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Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (Russian: Станисла́в Евгра́фович Петро́в; 7 September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to four more. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm. His subsequent decision to disobey orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies that would have likely resulted in a large-scale nuclear war. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Stanislav Petrov is the 73rd most popular military personnel (down from 65th in 2019), the 82nd most popular biography from Russia (down from 71st in 2019) and the 3rd most popular Russian Military Personnel.

Stanislav Petrov is most famous for being the man who prevented a nuclear war. In 1983, he was on duty at a Soviet nuclear early warning station when the system reported that the United States had launched five nuclear missiles. Petrov had the power to launch a retaliatory strike, but he decided to wait and see if the alarm was a false alarm. It turned out to be a false alarm, and he saved the world from a nuclear war.

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Among MILITARY PERSONNELS

Among military personnels, Stanislav Petrov ranks 73 out of 2,058. Before him are Ernst Röhm, Eugène de Beauharnais, Manfred von Richthofen, Yi Sun-sin, Walter Model, and T. E. Lawrence. After him are Erich Raeder, Hasdrubal Barca, Ferdinand Foch, Michel Ney, Eli Cohen, and Günther von Kluge.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1939, Stanislav Petrov ranks 8. Before him are Marvin Gaye, Terence Hill, Tina Turner, Francis Ford Coppola, Ian McKellen, and Lee Harvey Oswald. After him are Gro Harlem Brundtland, Peter Grünberg, Giovanni Trapattoni, Amos Oz, Amanda Lear, and Harvey Keitel. Among people deceased in 2017, Stanislav Petrov ranks 6. Before him are Helmut Kohl, Charles Manson, Michael I of Romania, Gene Cernan, and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. After him are Zygmunt Bauman, Roger Moore, Bill Paxton, Tom Petty, Raymond Kopa, and Jalal Talabani.

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In Russia

Among people born in Russia, Stanislav Petrov ranks 82 out of 3,761. Before him are Alexander Borodin (1833), Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861), Paul Karrer (1889), Alexander Scriabin (1871), Dmitry Medvedev (1965), and Konstantin Stanislavski (1863). After him are Boris Godunov (1552), Feodor I of Russia (1557), Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869), Alexandra Kollontai (1872), Martti Ahtisaari (1937), and Roman Jakobson (1896).

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Among MILITARY PERSONNELS In Russia

Among military personnels born in Russia, Stanislav Petrov ranks 3. Before him are Vasily Zaitsev (1915), and Mikhail Kutuzov (1745). After him are Vasily Arkhipov (1926), Ivan Konev (1897), Alexander Suvorov (1730), Mikhail Tukhachevsky (1893), Yevgeny Prigozhin (1961), Vasily Chuikov (1900), Pyotr Bagration (1765), Semyon Budyonny (1883), and Felix Steiner (1896).

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