Imagine serving as a colonel of the Soviet Air Defense Forces when one day your command center's early nuclear warning system goes off, informing you that the US has launched a missile that is headed straight for you. Most of us would probably call our supervisors to warn them and run into the closest shelter we could find before curling up into a little ball while crying.

Fortunately, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov had a cool head when that exact situation presented itself in 1983. After examining the situation, he determined the report was a false alarm and reported it as such to his superiors, likely preventing nuclear retaliation and a massive war that could have created a nuclear wasteland across the globe.

Petrov may not have received the credit he deserved from his Soviet superiors, but he may soon become a household name after a recent and widely praised indie flick based on his story, The Man Who Saved the World, was released in October.