# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-e-thornton
# Generated: 2026-08-12T18:45:51.881Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-e-thornton"
name: "William E. Thornton"
slug: "william-e-thornton"
description: "William Edgar Thornton was an American NASA astronaut. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from University of North Carolina and a doctorate in medicine, also from UNC. He flew on Challenger twice, the STS-8 and STS-51-B missions."
tagline: "American astronaut (1929–2021)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/WilliamThornton.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Doctors"
  slug: "doctors"
profileType:
  name: "Doctor"
  slug: "doctor"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1929-04-14"
deathDate: "2021-01-11"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           49.83
  momentum:             2.291666666666667
  historical:           17.95658933333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A8%81%E5%BB%89%C2%B7%E7%B4%A2%E6%81%A9%E9%A1%BF"
    title: "威廉·索恩顿"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%AB%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "وليام ثورنتون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%AB%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "وليام ثورنتون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%A2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8A%D0%BD"
    title: "Уилям Торнтън"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thornton"
    title: "William Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thornton_(astronauta)"
    title: "William Thornton (astronauta)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A6%DB%8C_%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%86"
    title: "ویلیام ئی تارنتن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edgar_Thornton"
    title: "William Edgar Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://mg.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nds.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edgar_Thornton"
    title: "William Edgar Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thornton"
    title: "William Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thornton_(astronauta)"
    title: "William Thornton (astronauta)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%2C_%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%AD%D0%B4%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80"
    title: "Торнтон, Уильям Эдгар"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edgar_Thornton"
    title: "William Edgar Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Thornton"
    title: "William E. Thornton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q719926"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump