Stanislav Petrov, the Russian Officer Who Averted a Nuclear War, Feared History Repeating Itself
(World News Russia)

Stanislav Petrov, the retired officer of the Soviet Air Defense Forces whose death at the age of 77 was announced this week, did not enjoy discussing the day he averted a nuclear holocaust. Maybe he was tired of giving interviews about the fateful cameo he played in the history of the Cold War. Or maybe he was just in a bad mood when he took a call from TIME one summer morning in 2015. But whatever the reason, the first mention of his heroism made him spit across the line from his home in a suburb of Moscow. “Chush!� he hissed into the phone in Russian. “Nonsense! I was just doing my job.� That job was on the Soviet early-warning system codenamed Oko, or Eye, whose...