John Noble Wilford | |
|---|---|
 University yearbook portrait, 1955 | |
| Born | (1933-10-04)October 4, 1933 Murray, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | December 8, 2025(2025-12-08) (aged 92) |
| Occupation | Journalist, author |
| Alma mater | University of Tennessee,Syracuse University |
| Genre | Science journalism |
| Notable awards | |
John Noble Wilford (October 4, 1933 – December 8, 2025) was an American author andscience journalist forThe New York Times. He wrote the front-page article in theTimes about theApollo 11 landing. Wilford was aPulitzer Prize for National Reporting winner.
Wilford was born October 4, 1933, inMurray, Kentucky, and attendedGrove High School across the border in nearbyParis, Tennessee.[1] After graduating from high school, he attendedLambuth College for a year before transferring to theUniversity of Tennessee in the fall of 1952.[1] He received a B.S. injournalism from UT in 1955 and anM.A. inpolitical science fromSyracuse University in 1956.[2] After completing his master's degree, Wilford spent two years with theU.S. ArmyCounterintelligence Corps inWest Germany.[1]
Wilford's professional career began atThe Commercial Appeal inMemphis, Tennessee, where he was a summer reporter in 1954 and 1955. He briefly served as a general assignment reporter atThe Wall Street Journal in 1956. Following his military service, he was a medical reporter at theJournal from 1959 to 1961.[1] In 1962, he held an Advanced International Reporting Fellowship at theColumbia University Graduate School of Journalism. That year, he also joinedTime as a contributing editor specializing in science before moving in 1965 toThe New York Times to be a science reporter (1965–1973) and science correspondent (1979–2008).[1][3] While at theNYT he also worked as assistant national news editor (1973–1975) and director of science news (1975–1979).[4][5][6]
In 1969, he wrote the newspaper's front-page article about theApollo 11 landing. His was the only byline on the front page, beneath the headline "Men Walk On Moon" and under the subheading "A Powdery Surface is Closely Explored."[7] On the 40th anniversary of the mission, Wilford's article was lauded by journalistStephen Dubner, co-author ofFreakonomics, who emphasized Wilford's skillful use of data. For example, Wilford wrote, "Although Mr. Armstrong is known as a man of few words, his heartbeats told of his excitement upon leading man's first landing on the moon. At the time of the descent rocket ignition, his heartbeat rate registered 110 a minute—77 is normal for him—and it shot up to 156 at touchdown." Dubner argues that this is one of the most elegant uses of data to have been ever used in journalism.[8] His obituaries forNeil Armstrong andJohn Glenn were later published in theTimes in the 2010s.[9]
Wilford received the 1984Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for work on "scientific topics of national import". He also contributed to the staff entry that received a 1987 National Reporting Pulitzer for coverage of theSpace ShuttleChallenger disaster and its implications. He has also won the G.M. Loeb Achievement Award from theUniversity of Connecticut, the National Space Club Press Award and two awards from the Aviation-Space Writers Association.[2] Wilford was recipient of the 2001Carl Sagan Award for Public Appreciation of Science.[6][10] He was the 2008 recipient of the University of Tennessee's Hileman Distinguished Alumni Award.[11]
Wilford married twice; his first wife, Nancy Watts Paschall, died in 2015. He remarried to Janet St. Amant in 2018.[5]
Wilford died fromprostate cancer on December 8, 2025, at the age of 92.[5]
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The following is a partial bibliography:
