# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/rudolf-abel
# Generated: 2026-09-07T20:51:15.874Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/rudolf-abel"
name: "Rudolf Abel"
slug: "rudolf-abel"
description: "A Soviet spy who ran a New York operation under a borrowed name, caught when a hollow nickel split open on a Brooklyn sidewalk, then traded back to Moscow for a downed U-2 pilot in the Cold War's most famous prisoner exchange."
tagline: "Soviet intelligence officer (1903–1971)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/The_Soviet_Union_1990_CPA_6265_stamp_(Soviet_Intelligence_Agents._Rudolf_Abel).jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United Kingdom"
  isoCode: "GB"
profileType:
  name: "Other"
  slug: "other"
birthDate: "1903-07-11"
deathDate: "1971-11-15"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           59.66
  momentum:             15.1029664133366
  historical:           22.838492
  currentAttention:     4.607142857142858
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  65
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Historical Figures"
    slug: "historical-figures"
  - name: "Journalist"
    slug: "journalist"
  - name: "United Kingdom"
    slug: "united-kingdom"
  - name: "Europe"
    slug: "europe"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/ch0507425/"
    handle:    "ch0507425"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q181538"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Rudolf%20Abel"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%81_%D8%A2%D8%A8%D9%84"
    title: "رودولف آبل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%80%D1%8B%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%96%D1%87_%D0%A4%D1%96%D1%88%D1%8D%D1%80"
    title: "Вільям Генрыхавіч Фішэр"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%84_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C"
    title: "Рудольф Абель"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%84_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB"
    title: "Рудолф Абел"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%A1%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%AB_%E0%A6%85%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B2"
    title: "রুডলফ অ্যাবেল"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Ivanovi%C4%8D_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Ivanovič Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%A4%D0%B8%D1%88%D0%B5%D1%80"
    title: "Вильям Фишер"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Iwanowitsch_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Iwanowitsch Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%84%D9%81_%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A8%D9%84"
    title: "رودلف ایبل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fisher_(espion)"
    title: "William Fisher (espion)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%93%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%A3_%D7%90%D7%91%D7%9C"
    title: "רודולף אבל"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel_(h%C3%ADrszerz%C5%91)"
    title: "Rudolf Abel (hírszerző)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel"
    title: "Rudolf Abel"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AB%E3%83%89%E3%83%AB%E3%83%95%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%99%E3%83%AB"
    title: "ルドルフ・アベル"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%A3%A8%EB%8F%8C%ED%94%84_%EC%95%84%EB%B2%A8"
    title: "루돌프 아벨"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C5%ABdolfs_%C4%80bels"
    title: "Rūdolfs Ābels"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%84_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C"
    title: "Рудольф Абель"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudol'f_Abel'"
    title: "Rudol'f Abel'"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%81_%D8%A2%D8%A8%D9%84"
    title: "رودولف آبل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  William August Fisher was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1903 to Russian émigré parents, moved to Russia in the 1920s, and became a radio operator in Soviet intelligence before fighting the Germans in World War II. After the war, the KGB sent him to the United States to work in a New York City spy ring under the alias Rudolf Ivanovich Abel — a name he adopted to signal his handlers when the FBI arrested him in 1957. Convicted in federal court on three counts of conspiracy in what became known as the Hollow Nickel Case, he was sentenced to 30 years at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He served just over four years before being exchanged in 1962 for captured U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers and Yale doctoral student Frederic Pryor. He returned to the Soviet Union, lectured on his experiences, and died in 1971 — his true identity and English birthplace revealed only after his death.