1894-1956

American Zoologist and Sexologist

In the 1950s, American zoologist and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey established himself as the preeminent authority on the sexual behavior of men and women in America. The publication of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) blazed new trails in the field of sex research, leading to reassessments of research practices and of medical, psychiatric, and public attitudes towards sex. Before achieving notoriety as a sexologist, Kinsey was a trained entomologist and the world's leading expert on the American gall wasp. Regardless of the focus of his research, throughout his career Kinsey sought to uncover details and amass evidence, thereby making significant contributions to the fields that he explored.

Alfred Charles Kinsey was born on June 23, 1894, in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Alfred and Sarah Ann Kinsey. His mother and father, a self-educated teacher...