William Howell Masters (December 27, 1915 – February 16, 2001) was an American

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined ...

, best known as the senior member of the

Masters and Johnson The Masters and Johnson research team, composed of William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dysfunctions from 1957 until the 1 ...

sexuality research team. Along with his partner

Virginia E. Johnson Virginia E. Johnson (born Mary Virginia Eshelman; February 11, 1925 – July 24, 2013) was an American sexologist and a member of the Masters and Johnson sexuality research team. Along with her partner, William H. Masters, she pioneered researc ...

, he pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of

sexual dysfunction Sexual dysfunction is difficulty experienced by an individual or partners during any stage of normal sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal, or orgasm. The World Health Organization defines sexual dysfunction a ...

s and disorders from 1957 until the 1990s.

Early life

Born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, William Masters was the older son of Francis Wynn Masters and Estabrooks Taylor Masters. His younger brother was named Frank. Growing up, Masters had a particularly rough childhood at the hands of his father, a difficult man who liked to be in control and had a very bad temper. All household decisions had to be cleared through the father, and in fits of anger he beat young Bill with a belt, sometimes until Bill bled. Nevertheless, Bill was a bright child and excelled at school. After his Aunt Sally decided to pay his tuition, Masters attended the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...

, a preparatory school in New Jersey, then for boys only. Once Bill began his education, his father considered him an adult and gave him little to no financial or family support, and so he rarely visited home. With the completion of his early education Masters then attended and graduated from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

in upstate New York. Afterward, he enrolled at the University of Rochester Medical School, from which he received his medical degree. He was a member of

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Delt, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in C ...

, and became a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis. In 1942, he married his first wife, Elizabeth Ellis, who was known as Libby or Betty. The couple had two children.Richard Severo,
William H. Masters, a Pioneer in Studying and Demystifying Sex, Dies at 85
, ''New York Times'', February 19, 2001. Retrieved 1 Oct 2014

Career

Sexological research

Relationship with Virginia Johnson

Masters met

in 1957 when he hired her as a research assistant to undertake a comprehensive study of human sexuality. Masters divorced his first wife, Elizabeth Ellis Masters, to marry Johnson in 1971. Masters and Johnson eventually divorced over two decades later but continued their professional collaboration.

Death

William Masters suffered complications from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...

and died in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, on February 16, 2001. Masters's second wife, Virginia Johnson, died in July 2013. Dr. Masters was survived by two children from his marriage to Elizabeth Ellis: Sarah Masters Paul, and William Howell Masters III. He was a church-going

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

and a registered Republican.

In popular culture

The American

cable network Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, o ...

Showtime debuted ''

Masters of Sex ''Masters of Sex'' is an American period drama television series that premiered on September 29, 2013, on Showtime. It was developed by Michelle Ashford and loosely based on Thomas Maier's biography '' Masters of Sex''. Set in the 1950s through ...

'', a dramatic television series loosely based on the 2009 biography of the same name, on September 29, 2013. The series stars

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...

as Masters and Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson. Sheen has stated in an interview that he does not know what the real Bill Masters was like and he was doing his own interpretation in his portrayal of him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masters, William 1915 births 2001 deaths American Episcopalians American relationships and sexuality writers American male non-fiction writers Neurological disease deaths in Arizona Deaths from Parkinson's disease American gynecologists Hamilton College (New York) alumni Physicians from Cleveland People from St. Louis People from Tucson, Arizona Sex educators American sexologists Lawrenceville School alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty Writers from Missouri Writers from Cleveland