One other one that just came to mind is the Chernobyl disaster. Obviously it was still a disaster (it's in the name!), but if I recall correctly, there was a water reservoir below the meltdown, which if reached (and I think it came close?) would likely have caused an explosion that would have spread enough radiation to make much of eastern Europe uninhabitable, among other disastrous effects. That's quite a dodged bullet.
I just finished Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which is about some of the origins of Ebola and an example case of potential disaster being thwarted by the hair of our chin. Fun read.
Your heart is in the right place, and Stanislav Petrov deserves all of our respect. However, the reality is more complicated. Due to geography, USSR used a system called dead hand [0] to detect a nuclear attack and to retaliate. In particular, SLBMs launched by US off the coast of Norway needed only 5 minutes travel time to Moscow. Similarly, US Pershing missiles stationed in West Germany required about 6-7 minutes to reach Moscow. All of these meant USSR required a nuclear retaliatory system that could prevent hasty decisions. Hence Dead Hand system.
On the other hand, Vasily Arkhipov probably stopped a nuclear war in Oct 1962 [1]...
One other one that just came to mind is the Chernobyl disaster. Obviously it was still a disaster (it's in the name!), but if I recall correctly, there was a water reservoir below the meltdown, which if reached (and I think it came close?) would likely have caused an explosion that would have spread enough radiation to make much of eastern Europe uninhabitable, among other disastrous effects. That's quite a dodged bullet.
The discovery of penicillin in dirty petris that had been left out over vacation:
https://time.com/4049403/alexander-fleming-history/
HIV being relatively intransmissible.
I don’t know the biodynamics of a virus with its case fatality rate and latency period being susceptible to airborne transmission, but if it had been…
I just finished Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which is about some of the origins of Ebola and an example case of potential disaster being thwarted by the hair of our chin. Fun read.
I bet this question would also get a lot of fun answers on the AskHistorians subreddit.
Stanislav Petrov
Your heart is in the right place, and Stanislav Petrov deserves all of our respect. However, the reality is more complicated. Due to geography, USSR used a system called dead hand [0] to detect a nuclear attack and to retaliate. In particular, SLBMs launched by US off the coast of Norway needed only 5 minutes travel time to Moscow. Similarly, US Pershing missiles stationed in West Germany required about 6-7 minutes to reach Moscow. All of these meant USSR required a nuclear retaliatory system that could prevent hasty decisions. Hence Dead Hand system.
On the other hand, Vasily Arkhipov probably stopped a nuclear war in Oct 1962 [1]...
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov