42 Facts About Alfred Kinsey

Alfred Kinsey's work has influenced social and cultural values in the United States as well as internationally.

Alfred Kinsey was born on June 23,1894, in Hoboken, New Jersey, the son of Sarah Ann and Alfred Seguine Kinsey.

Alfred Kinsey's mother received little formal education; his father was a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Alfred Kinsey's father was known as one of the most devout members of the local Methodist church.

Alfred Kinsey's father imposed strict rules on the household, including mandating Sunday as a day of prayer and little else.

Alfred Kinsey's parents were poor for most of his childhood, often unable to afford proper medical care.

At age 10, Alfred Kinsey moved with his family to South Orange, New Jersey.

Alfred Kinsey worked and camped with the local YMCA throughout his early years, and enjoyed these activities to such an extent that he intended to work for the YMCA after completing his education.

Alfred Kinsey joined the Boy Scouts when a troop was formed in his community.

Alfred Kinsey's parents strongly supported this because the Boy Scouts was an organization that was based on the principles of Christianity.

Alfred Kinsey worked his way up through the Scouting ranks to earn Eagle Scout in 1913, making him one of the earliest Eagle Scouts.

In high school, Alfred Kinsey was a quiet but hard-working student.

At one time, Alfred Kinsey had hoped to become a concert pianist, but decided to concentrate on his scientific pursuits instead.

Alfred Kinsey's ability to spend immense amounts of time deeply focused on study was a trait that would serve him well in college and during his professional career.

Alfred Kinsey seems not to have formed strong social relationships during high school, but earned respect for his academic ability.

Alfred Kinsey was later to claim that his high school biology teacher, Natalie Roeth, was the most important influence on his decision to become a scientist.

Alfred Kinsey approached his father with plans to study botany at college.

Alfred Kinsey's father demanded that he study engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology instead.

Alfred Kinsey was not successful there, and decided engineering was not a field at which he could excel.

Alfred Seguine Kinsey did not attend his son's graduation ceremony at Bowdoin, possibly as another sign of disapproval of his son's choice of career and studies.

Alfred Kinsey continued his graduate studies at Harvard University's Bussey Institute, which had one of the most highly regarded biology programs in the United States.

Under Wheeler, Alfred Kinsey worked almost completely autonomously, which suited both men quite well.

Alfred Kinsey wrote his doctoral thesis on gall wasps, zealously collecting samples of the species.

Alfred Kinsey traveled widely and took 26 detailed measurements of hundreds of thousands of gall wasps; his methodology was itself an important contribution to entomology as a science.

In 1919, Alfred Kinsey was awarded a ScD degree by Harvard University, and he accepted an academic post in biology at Indiana University.

Alfred Kinsey wrote a widely used high-school textbook, An Introduction to Biology, which was published in October 1926.

Alfred Kinsey defined evolution as "the scientific word for change", and while he acknowledged that there are some people who "think they don't believe in evolution", he tried to show his students the folly of such reasoning.

Alfred Kinsey co-authored Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America, published in 1943, with Merritt Lyndon Fernald.

Alfred Kinsey had been studying the variations in mating practices among gall wasps.

Alfred Kinsey wrote about pre-adolescent orgasms using data in tables 30 to 34 of the male volume, which report observations of orgasms in over 300 children aged from two months up to fifteen years.

Alfred Kinsey had seen the need for participant confidentiality and anonymity as necessary to gain "honest answers on such taboo subjects".

Alfred Kinsey was raised as a Methodist, and for a time converted to a much less fundamentalist Congregationalism.

Alfred Kinsey was bisexual and, as a young man, would punish himself for having homoerotic feelings.

Alfred Kinsey designed his own house, which was built in the Vinegar Hill neighborhood of Bloomington, Indiana, at 1320 First Street.

Dr Alfred Kinsey cut through this overlay with detachment and precision.

Alfred Kinsey was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Bloomington, Indiana.

When "Dr Alfred Kinsey" identifies himself to Jack Benny, Benny steps away in embarrassment.

Alfred Kinsey appeared on the cover of the August 24,1953, issue of Time.

Alfred Kinsey's work contains much that is valuable, but it must not be mistaken for the last word.

The 2004 biographical film Alfred Kinsey, written and directed by Bill Condon, stars Liam Neeson as the scientist and Laura Linney as his wife.

In 2012, Alfred Kinsey was inducted into the Legacy Walk in Chicago, an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and people.

In June 2019, Alfred Kinsey was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's Stonewall Inn.