# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-l-laurence
# Generated: 2026-08-14T02:41:40.126Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-l-laurence"
name: "William L. Laurence"
slug: "william-l-laurence"
description: "William Leonard Laurence was a Jewish American science journalist best known for his work at The New York Times. Born in the Russian Empire, he won two Pulitzer Prizes. As the official historian of the Manhattan Project, he was the only journalist to witness the Trinity test and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. He is credited with coining the iconic term \"Atomic Age,\" which became popular in the 1950s. Infamously, he dismissed the destructive effects of radiation sickness as Japanese propaganda in The New York Times. Even though he had seen the effects first-hand, he moonlighted for the War Department's press office, and United States military officials instructed him to do so in order to discredit earlier reports by independent journalist Wilfred Burchett, the first Western reporter on-site after the bombings."
tagline: "American journalist (1888-1977)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/William_Laurence_-_cropped.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Journalists"
  slug: "journalists"
profileType:
  name: "Journalist"
  slug: "journalist"
birthDate: "1888-03-07"
deathDate: "1977-03-19"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           49.76
  momentum:             8.937142857142858
  historical:           9.859652
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%9B._%D0%9B%D0%BE%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81"
    title: "Вільям Л. Лоуренс"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A5%D9%84._%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B3"
    title: "ويليام إل. لورنس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84._%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B3"
    title: "ويليام ال. لورنس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Laurence"
    title: "William L. Laurence"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Laurence"
    title: "William L. Laurence"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84._%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B3"
    title: "ویلیام ال. لارنس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Laurence"
    title: "William L. Laurence"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Laurence"
    title: "William L. Laurence"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BBL%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9"
    title: "ウィリアム・L・ローレンス"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Leonard_Laurence"
    title: "William Leonard Laurence"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%BE%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81%2C_%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4"
    title: "Лоуренс, Уильям Леонард"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q167540"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

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