Alfred Kinsey

Born on June 23, 1894, Alfred Charles Kinsey is a biologist plus a professor of sexology, entomology and zoology. He founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University in 1947. He wrote Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female in 1953. He developed the Kinsey scale and his research on human sexuality lead to the field of sexology. His work was controversial in the 1940s and 1950s.
He attended Bowdoin College where he studied entomology and graduated magna cum laude with degrees in psychology and biology. He continued to study at Harvard after graduation and finished his PhD thesis on gall wasps. His widely used text book for high school students An Introduction to Biology was published in 1926. The book endorsed evolution and separated the fields of zoology and botany. He co-wrote Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North American in 1943.
Kinsey is the first major researcher in American sexology. He developed the Kinsey scale measuring sexual orientation. Kinsey filmed sex acts among his coworkers as part of his research. There is some speculation this research was spawned by Kinsey's own sexual needs.
Kinsey and Clara Bracken McMillen married in 1921 and they produced four children. It is alleged that Kinsey was bisexual. He and his wife agreed their marriage was an open book and either partner could sleep with anyone they wanted. Kinsey was reported to have slept with his student Clyde Martin.
Kinsey died on August 25, 1956 at sixty-two. He was always a scientist and the value of his contribution to human sexuality is still studied today. His death did not resolve an ongoing lawsuit concerning pornography that Kinsey brought back with him from his European trips but colleagues state that his films were all a part of his research.