William Windsor

Little is firmly documented about William Windsor beyond the basics that he was born in 1857 and worked as an American phrenologist as well as an author. He is chiefly noted today for Loma, a Citizen of Venus (1897), a speculative novel that has been recognized by reference works on science fiction.

In that book, Windsor imagines a visitor from Venus arriving on Earth and exposing human failings, with special attention to the way women are treated and to broader hopes for social improvement. The story has been described as blending early science fiction, utopian thinking, and a long appendix on scientific phrenology, which reflects Windsor's other professional interests.

Because surviving biographical information appears to be sparse, his reputation now rests mainly on this unusual novel and on the glimpse it offers into late-19th-century reform ideas, pseudoscience, and imaginative fiction.