One officer's hunch overrode a Soviet computer reporting incoming US missiles

On 26 September 1983, the Soviet early-warning system reported five US missiles inbound. Duty officer Stanislav Petrov judged the report illogical, since a real first strike would be massive, and refused to pass it up the chain as confirmed. Investigators later found sunlight glinting off high-altitude clouds had fooled the satellite; Petrov's wait for corroboration likely averted a retaliatory nuclear war.

— David Hoffman, The Washington Post, 'I Had a Funny Feeling in My Gut' — 9 February 1999