People speculated to have been autistic

Famous historical people have been speculated to have had autism

Autism

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...

or other autism spectrum

Autism spectrum

The term "autism spectrum" is often used to describe disorders that are currently classified as pervasive developmental disorders. Pervasive developmental disorders include autism, Asperger syndrome, Childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise...

disorders such as Asperger syndrome

Asperger syndrome

Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...

by journalists, academics and autism professionals. Such speculation is controversial and little of it is undisputed. For example, several autism researchers speculate that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

had autism and other conditions, while other researchers say there is not sufficient evidence to draw conclusions that he had any such conditions.

Controversial speculation

Speculative claims that historical figures displayed behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorders include people who died before the work done by Hans Asperger

Hans Asperger

Hans Asperger was an Austrian pediatrician, after whom Asperger syndrome was named. He wrote over 300 publications, mostly concerning autism in children.-Biography:...

and Leo Kanner

Leo Kanner

Leo Kanner was a Jewish American psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. Kanner's work formed the foundation of child and adolescent psychiatry in the U.S. and worldwide....

in classifying autism spectrum conditions was completed. Autism has only been recognized since the 1940s, so many earlier cases may have gone undiagnosed. Speculation about their diagnoses is based on reported behaviors rather than any clinical observation of the individual. Fred Volkmar, a psychiatrist and autism expert and director of the Yale Child Study Center

Yale Child Study Center

The Yale Child Study Center is a department at the Yale University School of Medicine. The center conducts research and provides clinical services and medical training related to children and families...

says, "There is unfortunately a sort of cottage industry of finding that everyone has Asperger's

Asperger syndrome

."

Michael Fitzgerald

Michael Fitzgerald (psychiatrist)

Michael Fitzgerald is an Irish psychiatrist and professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin. He was the first professor in his field in Ireland.-Views on autism:...

, of the Department of Child Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

, has speculated about historical figures with autism in numerous journal papers and at least three books: The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger's Syndrome and the Arts, Unstoppable Brilliance: Irish Geniuses and Asperger's Syndrome and Autism and Creativity, Is there a link between autism in men and exceptional ability?

List

Person	Speculator
Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."... – author	Michael Fitzgerald
Béla Bartók Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer... – 20th century Hungarian Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... composer	Ioan James Ioan James Ioan Mackenzie James is a British mathematician working in the field of topology particularly in homotopy theory.James was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, and was educated at St Paul's School, London and Queen's College, Oxford. In 1953 He earned a D. Phil... ; Oliver Sacks Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist... says the evidence seems "very thin at best".
Hugh Blair of Borgue – 18th century Scottish Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the... landowner thought mentally incompetent, now studied as case history of autism.	Rab Houston and Uta Frith Uta Frith Uta Frith FRS FBA is a leading developmental psychologist working at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has pioneered much of the current research in autism and dyslexia, and has written several books on these issues. Her book 'Autism: Explaining the Enigma'... Wolff calls the evidence "convincing".
Lewis Carroll Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the... – writer, logician	Michael Fitzgerald
Henry Cavendish Henry Cavendish Henry Cavendish FRS was a British scientist noted for his discovery of hydrogen or what he called "inflammable air". He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper "On Factitious Airs". Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment and... – 18th century British scientist Scientist A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word... . He was unusually reclusive, literal minded, had trouble relating to people, had trouble adapting to people, difficulties looking straight at people, drawn to patterns, etc.	Oliver Sacks, and Ioan James; Fred Volkmar of Yale Study Child Center is skeptical.
Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII also Carl of Sweden, , Latinized to Carolus Rex, Turkish: Demirbaş Şarl, also known as Charles the Habitué was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718... – speculated to have had Asperger syndrome	Swedish researchers, Gillberg and Lagerkvist
Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender. Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1987 and 1991. His murders involved rape, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism... – serial killer Serial killer A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...	Silva, et al.
Anne Claudine d'Arpajon, comtesse de Noailles – French governess, lady of honor, tutor	Society for French Historical Studies, New York Times
Charles Darwin Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory... – naturalist, associated with the theory of evolution Evolution Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth... by natural selection Natural selection Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....	Michael Fitzgerald
Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life... – poet	Vernon Smith
Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland... – Irish revolutionary and politician	Michael Fitzgerald
Paul Dirac Paul Dirac Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics... – British mathematician and physicist. He was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, 1933–1963 and a Fellow of St John's College. Awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the mathematical foundations of Quantum Mechanics.	Ioan James and Graham Farmelo
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history... – physicist	See analysis below
Janet Frame Janet Frame Janet Paterson Frame, ONZ, CBE was a New Zealand author. She wrote eleven novels, four collections of short stories, a book of poetry, an edition of juvenile fiction, and three volumes of autobiography during her lifetime. Since her death, a twelfth novel, a second volume of poetry, and a handful... – New Zealand author	Sarah Abrahamson; this suggestion has been the subject of some controversy.
Glenn Gould Glenn Gould Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach... – Canadian pianist and noted Bach Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity... interpreter. He liked routine to the point he used the same seat until it was worn through. He also disliked social functions to the point that in later life he relied on the telephone or letters for virtually all communication. He had an aversion to being touched, had a different sense of hot or cold than most, and would rock back and forth while playing music. He is speculated to have had Asperger syndrome.	Michael Fitzgerald, Ioan James, Tony Attwood Tony Attwood Tony Attwood is an English psychologist who lives in Queensland, Australia and is an author of several books on Asperger's Syndrome.... , and NPR
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945... – Austrian born, Nazi German politician, chancellor and dictator	Michael Fitzgerald and Andreas Fries; although others disagree and say that there is not sufficient evidence to indicate any diagnoses for Hitler.
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia... – US President	Norm Ledgin Norm Ledgin Norm Ledgin is an American writer and journalist, living in the Stanley section of Overland Park, Kansas... Tony Attwood, and Ioan James
Keith Joseph Keith Joseph Keith St John Joseph, Baron Joseph, Bt, CH, PC , was a British barrister and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under three Prime Ministers , and is widely regarded to have been the "power behind the throne" in the creation of what came to be known as... – father of Thatcherism Thatcherism Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...	Michael Fitzgerald
James Joyce James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century... – author of Ulysses Ulysses (novel) Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...	Michael Fitzgerald and Antionette Walker; this theory has been called "a somewhat odd hypothesis".
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career... - filmmaker	Michael Fitzgerald
William McGonagall - poet, notoriously bad yet he never understood that others mocked him	Norman Watson
Michelangelo Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art... – Italian Renaissance Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe... artist, based on his inability to form long-term attachments and certain other characteristics	Arshad and Fitzgerald; Ioan James also discussed Michelangelo's autistic traits.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music... – composer	Tony Attwood and Michael Fitzgerald; others disagree that there is sufficient evidence to indicate any diagnoses for Mozart.
Isaac Newton Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...	See analysis below
Moe Norman Moe Norman Murray Irwin "Moe" Norman was a Canadian professional golfer. He was widely considered the best ball striker who ever lived among the best players in the world... – Canadian golfer	USA Today
George Orwell George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist... – writer speculated to have had Asperger Syndrome. His troubled life went along with social interaction problems. Towards the end of his life he wrote a bitter polemic on his preparatory boarding school "Such, Such Were the Joys Such, Such Were the Joys "Such, Such Were the Joys" is a long autobiographical essay by the English writer George Orwell. It was probably composed in the early 1940s, but it was first published by the Partisan Review in 1952, two years after Orwell's death... " which displays many of the characteristics of Asperger's and interpersonal relationships. Orwell knew this intensely personal account was libellous and biographers have found it a challenge to explain its conflict with the truth, but Orwell still felt it important to publish this account eventually.	Michael Fitzgerald
Enoch Powell Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from... – British politician	Michael Fitzgerald
Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan Srīnivāsa Aiyangār Rāmānujan FRS, better known as Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan was a Indian mathematician and autodidact who, with almost no formal training in pure mathematics, made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions... – mathematician	Ioan James and Michael Fitzgerald
Charles Richter – seismologist, creator of the eponym Eponym An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named... ous scale of earthquake Earthquake An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time... magnitude	Susan Hough Susan Hough Susan Elizabeth Hough is a seismologist at the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena, California, and scientist in charge of the office. She has served as an editor and contributor for many journals and is a contributing editor to Geotimes Magazine... in her biography of Richter
Erik Satie Erik Satie Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde... – composer	Ioan James and Michael Fitzgerald
Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St... – author	Ioan James and Michael Fitzgerald
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer... - inventor, and electrical and mechanical engineer. Was able to mentally picture very detailed mechanisms; spoke 8 languages; was never married; was very sensitive to touch and had an acute sense of hearing and sight; was obsessed with the number three; was disgusted by jewelery and overweight people and also had several eating compulsions	NPR, Harvey Blume
Alan Turing Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a... – pioneer of computer sciences. He seemed to be a math savant and his lifestyle has many autism traits about it.	Tony Attwood Tony Attwood Tony Attwood is an English psychologist who lives in Queensland, Australia and is an author of several books on Asperger's Syndrome.... and Ioan James
Michael Ventris Michael Ventris Michael George Francis Ventris, OBE was an English architect and classical scholar who, along with John Chadwick, was responsible for the decipherment of Linear B.Ventris was educated in Switzerland and at Stowe School... – English architect who deciphered Linear B Linear B Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...	Simon Baron-Cohen Simon Baron-Cohen Simon Baron-Cohen FBA is professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre, and a Fellow of Trinity College...
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art... – American artist	Michael Fitzgerald and Ioan James
Blind Tom Wiggins Blind Tom Wiggins Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins was an African American autistic savant and musical prodigy on the piano. He had numerous original compositions published and had a lengthy and largely successful performing career throughout the United States... – autistic savant	Oliver Sacks
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947... – Austrian philosopher	Michael Fitzgerald Tony Attwood Tony Attwood Tony Attwood is an English psychologist who lives in Queensland, Australia and is an author of several books on Asperger's Syndrome.... , and Ioan James; But Oliver Sacks seems to disagree.
W. B. Yeats – poet and dramatist	Michael Fitzgerald

Einstein and Newton

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

(1879–1955) and Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

(1643–1727) both died before Asperger syndrome

Asperger syndrome

became known, but Ioan James

Ioan James

Ioan Mackenzie James is a British mathematician working in the field of topology particularly in homotopy theory.James was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, and was educated at St Paul's School, London and Queen's College, Oxford. In 1953 He earned a D. Phil...

, Michael Fitzgerald, and Simon Baron-Cohen

Simon Baron-Cohen

Simon Baron-Cohen FBA is professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre, and a Fellow of Trinity College...

believe their personalities are consistent with those of people with Asperger syndrome; Tony Attwood

Tony Attwood

Tony Attwood is an English psychologist who lives in Queensland, Australia and is an author of several books on Asperger's Syndrome....

has also named Einstein as a likely case of mild autism.

Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton both experienced intense intellectual interests in specific areas. When he was 50, Newton suffered a nervous breakdown involving depression

Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

and paranoia

Paranoia

Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...

. After Newton's death however, his body was found to contain massive amounts of mercury, probably from his alchemical pursuits, which could have accounted for his eccentricity in later life.

In her 1995 book In a World of His Own: A Storybook About Albert Einstein, author Illana Katz

Illana Katz

Illana Katz is an author, lecturer, and founder of Real Life Storybooks, a publisher of special needs storybooks for children. Motivated by the late 1980s news that her son Seth had autism, Katz began to educate herself about autism, including researching into the life of theoretical physicist...

notes that Einstein "was a loner, solitary, suffered from major tantrums, had no friends and didn't like being in crowds".

Arguments against

Oliver Sacks says that claims that Einstein or Newton had autism "seem very thin at best". Glen Elliott, a psychiatrist at the University of California at San Francisco, is unconvinced that either scientist had Asperger syndrome, particularly due to the unreliability of diagnoses based on biographical information. Elliot stated that there are a variety of causes that could explain the behaviour of interest, adding that Einstein had a good sense of humour, a trait uncommon among those with severe Asperger syndrome.

Controversial speculation

List

Einstein and Newton

Arguments against

Further reading