Autistic scientists and mathematicians?

[tgt]

Give us a list of them. Einstein was one.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You say that as if it were a fact. Einstein was never diagnosed with autism: he was almost 60 when the term was first used. The evidence is not strong enough to convince an overwhelming number of professionals that this is the case; it remains controversial.

 

[WarPhalange]

Einstein had a great social life (two wives?), had enough mental power to become a physicist, and still played the violin. What part of that suggests he was autistic?

 

[Howers]

Einstein had a great social life (two wives?), had enough mental power to become a physicist, and still played the violin. What part of that suggests he was autistic?

He was an amateur violinist. They claim Newton was autistic, but I don't buy it either. Newton wasn't married though... so who knows.

 

[B. Elliott]

I believe most will agree that Einstein (most likely but not 100% sure) has Aspergers which is a form of Autism. There are quite a few people that have Aspergers, yet lead relatively normal lives. Einstein was known for being a bit eccentric, which some believe is a sign of autism. As was Newton, Motzart, Andy Warhol, ect.

But again, since they're no longer around, we'll never know for sure.

 

[B. Elliott]

Why size mattered for Einstein

The secret of Einstein's immense intellect may finally have been uncovered - one area of his brain was significantly different than most people's.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/371698.stm

 

[tgt]

He was an amateur violinist. They claim Newton was autistic, but I don't buy it either. Newton wasn't married though... so who knows.

Newton must have had some mental condition as he definitely wasn't normal.

 

[tgt]

Einstein had a great social life (two wives?), had enough mental power to become a physicist, and still played the violin. What part of that suggests he was autistic?

He spoke at age 5 which is extremely late.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Temple Grandin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Does this help?
http://www.audiblox2000.com/dyslexia_dyslexic/dyslexia005.htm"

While this makes a nice story, this widely believed notion is false, according to Ronald W. Clark's comprehensive biography of Einstein, and according to Subtle is the Lord: The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, a biography by Abraham Pais (Oxford University Press, 1982).

Pais states that although his family had initial apprehensions that he might be backward because of the unusually long time before he began to talk, Einstein was speaking in whole sentences by some point between age two and three years. According to Clark, a far more plausible reason for his relatively late speech development is “the simpler situation suggested by Einstein's son Hans Albert, who says that his father was withdrawn from the world even as a boy.” Whether one accepts this interpretation, other information helps us to judge Einstein's language abilities after he began to speak.

Einstein entered school at the age of six, and against popular belief did very well. When he was seven his mother wrote, “Yesterday Albert received his grades, he was again number one, his report card was brilliant.” At the age of twelve Einstein was reading physics books. At thirteen, after reading the Critique of Pure Reason and the work of other philosophers, Einstein adopted Kant as his favorite author. About this time he also read Darwin. Pais states, “the widespread belief that he was a poor student is unfounded.”

 

[neu]

He was an amateur violinist. They claim Newton was autistic, but I don't buy it either. Newton wasn't married though... so who knows.

Newton was gay, wasn't he?

 

[tgt]

Newton was gay, wasn't he?

No, in one documentry it said that he exchanged love letters with a woman at some stage in his life.

 

[tgt]

Another potential candidate is Dirac.

 

[Kurdt]

I don't think there is any point in speculating which scientists in the past may have had an autistic spectrum disorder. If they were not diagnosed there is no real way of knowing.

 

[arildno]

No, in one documentry it said that he exchanged love letters with a woman at some stage in his life.

Which was socially de rigeur at the time to write and of minimal evidentiary importance.

More important is how Newton actually lived, where he again and again became over-enthused about his young male assistants to the point that they quit working with him.
In the aftermath of one such episode, Newton went into a psychosis.

Whether this behaviour on Newton is evidence of gayness, or simply that of a desperate loner who finally thinks he's found a soul mate, but doesn't have the social skills required not to scare the person off, that is debatable.

 

[Fearless]

Didn't PAM Dirac have aspbergers syndrome? A rather aggravated case to I believe.

 

[tgt]

How about Godel?

 

[tgt]

Didn't PAM Dirac have aspbergers syndrome? A rather aggravated case to I believe.

A guy like him must have had something as he definitely wasn't normal. On the other hand someone like Feynman is although they both were geniuses.

 

[Howers]

Which was socially de rigeur at the time to write and of minimal evidentiary importance.

More important is how Newton actually lived, where he again and again became over-enthused about his young male assistants to the point that they quit working with him.
In the aftermath of one such episode, Newton went into a psychosis.

Whether this behaviour on Newton is evidence of gayness, or simply that of a desperate loner who finally thinks he's found a soul mate, but doesn't have the social skills required not to scare the person off, that is debatable.

You'd think more people would have respect for the man and the work that pretty much invented physics

Newton and his laws don't get much love on this forum

 

[OrbitalPower]

Newton was a heroic man. I disagree with his personal philosophy and his religious beliefs, and his lifestyle, but there's no doubt in my mind that he was overall a respectable man who did groundbreaking work.

"If we evolved a race of Issac Newtons, that would not be progress. For the price Newton had to pay for being a supreme intellect was that he was incapable of friendship, love, fartherhood, and many other desirable things. As a man he was a failure, as a monster he was superb." --Aldous Huxley.

I'll leave it at that.

 

[OrbitalPower]

Oh, and by the way, autism is a fraud.

 

[proton]

Newton was a heroic man. I disagree with his personal philosophy and his religious beliefs, and his lifestyle, but there's no doubt in my mind that he was overall a respectable man who did groundbreaking work.

couldnt agree more

 

[arildno]

You'd think more people would have respect for the man and the work that pretty much invented physics

Newton and his laws don't get much love on this forum

eeh? Heisenberg, Otto Hahn and Werner von Braun were all disgusting Nazi-schmazis, but brilliant scientists all the same.

Gauss drove his wife insane with his neglect and superior attitude towards her, that doesn't mean he wasn't a good mathematician.

 

[Fearless]

Yeah it's true. Those who aspire for excellence sacrifice a lot of things. Like in the huxley-quote. People should always have a choice of path in life, but what happens when the extreme analytical prowess someone has, is only a symptom of a very debilitating mental disease? Should he/she try to cure it or not? What happens when he/she gets well and loses the monstrous forces that he/she once commanded?

Once a genius, always a genius?

 

[arildno]

Well, I don't agree with that at all, as if most geniuses were anti-social b******.
Euler, for example, was a family-man, he played with his grandson (letting him ride upon his knee) just hours before he (Euler, that is) peacefully passed away in his study.

 

[cristo]

I don't think there is any point in speculating which scientists in the past may have had an autistic spectrum disorder. If they were not diagnosed there is no real way of knowing.

I agree with Kurdt. There is no value in this thread, thus I am closing it.