Dr. William Moulton Marston was a very well known American psychologist, inventor, feminist theorist and a comic book writer, who is still remembered for his pioneer creation of a female super heroine; the Wonder Woman.

He was born on 9th May, 1893 in Cliftondale (Massachusetts).His wife Elizabeth Marston and Olive Byrne - who lived with him in a polyamorous relationship, both these women had a great influence over the creation of the Wonder Woman. William Marston was a Harvard University student and he obtained B.A., L.L.B. and Ph.D. degrees from there. He served as a lecturer at American University (Washington D.C) and Tufts University (Medford MA) and as a director of public service at United Studios in California.

Marston is widely known for his invention of ‘Systolic Blood Pressure’ test which later contributed to modern day ‘Polygraph’ machine. He put up an idea that verbal deception can be detected by measuring the changes in the systolic blood pressure and thus, he laid the foundation of the lie detector test. Some people connect this with ‘The Lasso of Truth’ of the Wonder Woman which forces the one in its captivity to speak truth. At the end of his experiments regarding systolic bold pressure, Marston concluded that women are more reliable and honest than men and they can be faster and more accurate at work than them.

Olive Byrne (pseudonym - Olive Richard) interviewed Marston on 25th October, 1940, and published it in Family Circle (American Woman’s Magazine), under the title of "Don't Laugh at the Comics". Marston had talked about the eminent educational potential of comics in that interview. ‘Maxwell Charles Gaines’, a famous comic’s publisher was impressed reading the interview and he appointed Marston as an educational consultant of All-American Publications and National Periodicals, the two companies that later formed DC Comics.

At this time the sphere of comics was completely dominated by male superheroes like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern etc. Marston and his wife wondered why can’t there be a female super heroine who will win not only by power but also by love. Who will not kill the criminals, but convert their hearts from evil to good. Max Gaines also liked the idea and he permitted Marston to create such a super heroine. Marston wrote Wonder Woman stories under the pen name of ‘Charles Moulton’ a combination of the middle names of Marston and Gaines. Marston called his new character ‘Suprema’ who was beautiful, tender, peace loving and submissive like a woman and strong like a man. He introduced the idea of ‘Domination through Submission’. Sheldon Mayer, the Editor changed the name from ‘Suprema’ to ‘Wonder Woman’. ‘Wonder Woman’ first appeared in ‘All Star Comics’ and then in ‘Sensation Comics’. Now, Wonder Woman is popular as a DC Comics character.

While giving the reason why he thought of creating a character like Wonder Woman Marston said,“Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power, Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.”

William Marston has written many good books and articles in the field of psychology. For example, he is the author of the ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology and Psychological Review’. He has written two volumes in ‘International Library of Psychology, Philosophy, and Scientific Method edited by C.K. Ogden’. His psychological theories are presented in the books like; The Emotions of Normal People (published in 1928) and Integrative Psychology (published in 1931). He also wrote an article ‘Analysis of Emotions’ in 14th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica. ‘Try Living’ and ‘March On’ are two of his famous psychology texts. He also wrote for the magazines like Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, The Rotarian and Reader’s Digest. ‘Venus With Us: A Tale of the Caesar’, ‘The Art of Sound Pictures’, ‘F.F. Proctor, Vaudeville Pioneer’ are some other famous works by William Marston. However last six years of his life were entirely devoted to comics, mainly to Wonder Woman.
This prolific writer bid good bye to this world on 2nd May 1947 in Rye (New York).