William Perry

E399603

United States Secretary of Defense engineer human mathematician

William Perry is a former U.S. Secretary of Defense and mathematician known for his leadership in defense modernization and nuclear security policy during the Clinton administration.

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All labels observed (1)

Label	Occurrences
William Perry canonical	3

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3932771 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: William Perry
Context triple: [William Cohen, precededInOfficeAsSecretaryOfDefenseBy, William Perry]

A. William Perry
William Perry, nicknamed "The Refrigerator," is a former NFL defensive tackle best known for his larger-than-life personality and key role on the dominant mid-1980s Chicago Bears.
B. Ralph Barton Perry
Ralph Barton Perry was an American philosopher best known for his work in realism and value theory, and for his Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of William James.
C. John Perry
John Perry is an American poet, essayist, and cyberlibertarian activist best known as a lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
D. Peter A. Carruthers
Peter A. Carruthers was a theoretical physicist known for his work in particle physics and for helping establish the Santa Fe Institute as a center for interdisciplinary complexity research.
E. Melvin Fitting
Melvin Fitting is a logician and computer scientist known for his influential work in automated theorem proving, modal logic, and the foundations of logic in computer science.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: William Perry
Target entity description: William Perry is a former U.S. Secretary of Defense and mathematician known for his leadership in defense modernization and nuclear security policy during the Clinton administration.

A. William Perry
William Perry, nicknamed "The Refrigerator," is a former NFL defensive tackle best known for his larger-than-life personality and key role on the dominant mid-1980s Chicago Bears.
B. Ralph Barton Perry
Ralph Barton Perry was an American philosopher best known for his work in realism and value theory, and for his Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of William James.
C. John Perry
John Perry is an American poet, essayist, and cyberlibertarian activist best known as a lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
D. Peter A. Carruthers
Peter A. Carruthers was a theoretical physicist known for his work in particle physics and for helping establish the Santa Fe Institute as a center for interdisciplinary complexity research.
E. Melvin Fitting
Melvin Fitting is a logician and computer scientist known for his influential work in automated theorem proving, modal logic, and the foundations of logic in computer science.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States Secretary of Defense ⓘ engineer ⓘ human ⓘ mathematician ⓘ
affiliation	Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation ⓘ William J. Perry Project ⓘ linked to: Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation
areaOfInfluence	U.S. defense policy ⓘ international nuclear security ⓘ
awardReceived	Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal ⓘ linked to: Defense Distinguished Service Medal Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ⓘ Presidential Medal of Freedom ⓘ
countryOfCitizenship	United States of America ⓘ
educatedAt	Butler University ⓘ Pennsylvania State University ⓘ Stanford University ⓘ
employer	Stanford University ⓘ U.S. Department of Defense ⓘ linked to: Department of Defense
familyName	Perry ⓘ
fieldOfWork	arms control ⓘ defense policy ⓘ engineering ⓘ mathematics ⓘ nuclear security ⓘ
givenName	William ⓘ
languageSpoken	English ⓘ
memberOfPoliticalParty	Democratic Party (United States) ⓘ linked to: Democratic Party
notableAchievement	advocated reducing the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy ⓘ led post–Cold War U.S. defense modernization ⓘ promoted cooperative nuclear threat reduction with former Soviet states ⓘ shaped U.S. nuclear posture in the 1990s ⓘ
notableWork	Cooperative Threat Reduction initiatives ⓘ linked to: Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program My Journey at the Nuclear Brink ⓘ The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump ⓘ advocacy for nuclear disarmament ⓘ defense modernization in the 1990s ⓘ nuclear threat reduction policy ⓘ
occupation	author ⓘ business executive ⓘ government official ⓘ university professor ⓘ
officeContested	none ⓘ
positionHeld	Deputy Secretary of Defense ⓘ linked to: United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering ⓘ United States Secretary of Defense ⓘ
servedIn	Bill Clinton administration ⓘ linked to: Clinton administration
sexOrGender	male ⓘ
workLocation	California ⓘ linked to: California, United States

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

William Cohen → precededInOfficeAsSecretaryOfDefenseBy → William Perry ⓘ

Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service → notableRecipient → William Perry ⓘ

Theranos → boardMember → William Perry ⓘ

All labels observed (1)

How this entity was disambiguated Show

Statements (47)

How these facts were elicited Show

Referenced by (3)

How this entity was disambiguated

How these facts were elicited