William Masters

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William Masters should not be confused with Robert E. L. Masters, who also researched and wrote on the subject of sexology.

William Howell Masters (December 27, 1915 - February 16, 2001) was an American gynecologist, best known as the senior member of the Masters and Johnson sexuality research team. Along with Virginia E. Johnson, he pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dysfunctions from 1957 until the 1990s.

Masters was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Hamilton College. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi, and became a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis. Masters met Johnson in 1957 when he hired her as a research assistant to undertake a comprehensive study of human sexuality. Masters divorced his first wife to marry Johnson in 1969. They divorced three decades later, largely bringing their joint research to an end.

Masters died in Tucson, Arizona.