She was the twice-divorced single mother of two turned lounge singer turned insurance adjuster. He was the leading OB-GYN at the Washington University School of Medicine who hoped to win a Nobel Prize. Together, they would change the way people talked about sex. Inspired by real events of the 1950s and ’60s, Showtime’s “Masters of Sex” premiered on Sept. 29, 2013.

While many recognize Washington University for its world-class, cutting-edge medical research, few people know that the institution also pioneered sexuality studies in the 1950s. Even fewer know about the pioneer herself, the mother of the scientific study of sex and sex therapy: Virginia Johnson.