Soviet Air Force officer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov" id="mw1A" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Stanislav Petrov">Stanislav Petrov</a> identifies a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident" id="mw1Q" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident">computer error and not an American first strike</a>, thus preventing nuclear war