Why are there so many dyslexic scientists?

[Evo]

a lot of famous people have dyslexia too, Tom Cruise, JFK, Walt Disney, and even Einstein.

That's actually a myth, excluding Tom Cruise, they were never diagnosed while alive, how could they be diagnosed while dead?

 

[waht]

That's actually a myth, excluding Tom Cruise, they were never diagnosed while alive, how could they be diagnosed while dead?

That is an excellent question. I quoted this from a book "Gift of Dyslexia" by Ronald Davis. So far I have not found him to be a crack pot, he developed different techniques to aid dyslexics. If he is found to be a crackpot, I will change my mind in a heart beat.

Although Einstein being a dyslexic on the front cover would help sell the book, but he is not on the front cover.

 

[Evo]

That is an excellent question. I quoted this from a book "Gift of Dyslexia" by Ronald Davis. So far I have not found him to be a crack pot, he developed different techniques to aid dyslexics. If he is found to be a crackpot, I will change my mind in a heart beat.

Although Einstein being a dyslexic on the front cover would help sell the book, but he is not on the front cover.

I wouldn't say he's a crackpot, but he definitely didn't check his sources. Or he may be one of those that says "well, based on people's comments and their writing I would say they could have been dyslexic". It is a widely spread internet myth that has unfortunately been repeated so many times that even legitimate sites are spreading the myth, assuming it's true. It's not.

The following is the definitive crackpot list of "Famous Dyslexics". That list is ridiculous, but this is how this stuff gets started.

Beethoven, Vincent Van Gogh, Newton, Galileo, Michelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benjamin Franklin, Enrico Caruso, Gustave Flaubert, Sir Issac Newton, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Einstein, and it goes on and on.

It's uncanny that only "good" people had dyslexia, I don't see Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Nero, Attila The Hun, etc... named anywhere.

http://www.dyslexia-testing.com.au/wordpress/index.php/2008/01/07/here-is-a-definitive-list-of-famous-dyslexics/

 

[NeoDevin]

Why did they make dyslexia so hard to spell?

 

[mgb_phys]

Why did they make dyslexia so hard to spell?

Same reason 'lisp' is hard to say!

 

[dst]

Edit: ^^ Freaky timing.

Why did they make dyslexia so hard to spell?

And what cruel git put an 's' in 'lisp'?

 

[waht]

It's uncanny that only "good" people had dyslexia, I don't see Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Nero, Attila The Hun, etc... named anywhere.

Britney Spears is there

 

[rewebster]

Same reason 'lisp' is hard to say!

deslispia

 

[Kurdt]

I'm not too surprised that Tom Cruise has dyslexia. He can't distinguish science from Scientology.

 

[dst]

I have a strange experience with spelling that might shed light on this.

When I was in college, like many physics students I was terribly pressed for time to get through all my physics homework. I found that if I turned off the "thought voice" as I was solving physics problems, I could work much faster. By "thought voice" I mean I wouldn't think in English (my native - well, only - language). No language in my head at all, just ideas. I thought this was pretty cool until I noticed my spelling just went to hell. I also found I would struggle to find words when talking.

After school I had the time to think using language again, and my spelling and verbal skills returned.

BTW, the people I've told this to usually just give my blank stares, so if this seems odd to you, I won't be surprised.

So maybe the scientists who think in ideas, not language, are the poor spellers...?

Good idea, it would make sense since you would be thinking as abstractly as possible - I've found it to work pretty well too. I can't make my "thought voice" shut the hell up long enough to let me sleep Takes roughly an hour or 2 to get anywhere near drowsy...

 

[joeyar]

This thread reminds me of a classic spelling mistake I once found in a set of lecture notes - they left the 'f' out of 'doppler shift'.

 

[binzing]

Attila the Hun was a nomad from the steppe, I doubt his culture even had written language.

 

[JustMeNotYou]

Hi…

I have been a dyslexic for 63.5 years…during my career I worked my way to be an executive for several international companies. I have 3 technology patents for products I developed.

Being dyslexic I have often pondered the same question that being as follows:

(It's uncanny that only "good" people had dyslexia, I don't see Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Nero, Attila The Hun, etc... named anywhere.)

You have listed Andrew Jackson and Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the “good” people - read the true on unabridged history of their life’s and adventures – these were not “good” people a we define “good” people today. There are methods for determining if historical persons were dyslexics based their writings, behavior, and characteristics of their state of being human.

I believe the goal of identifying noteworthy cultural and historical personalities is demonstrate that people with dyslexia can rise above the common person and achieve great accomplishments. Thus, using those people as role models.

Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Nero, and Attila The Hun were psychopathic - sociopathic personalities. Maybe these aforementioned persons were dyslexics – people being dyslexics tend to be outside of the norm and loners and have difficulty in social situations. These aforementioned people were ridged in their thinking patterns most likely linear thinkers.

Dyslexics are holistic multi-dimensional thinkers and tend to have higher intelligence quotients than most people much like the famous people listed. No one knows the cause of dyslexia theories abound, it may be a regression in human evolution (pre-writing) hunter gather cultures or an advancement in human evolutions to next stage of development of the world in there abundance and peace for all humanity.

1 in 5 people have some form of dyslexia that would be about 20% of the populations – if dyslexia is an advancement in human evolution we are waiting for the 80% to catch up to us…

If it makes you feel better there are a lot of people in prison that have been diagnosed with dyslexia – but then again a lot of those people have above average I.Q.’s.

 

[Andre]

You dug up an old thread JMNY and welcome to the forum.

Anyway it doesn't matter because some elements of dyslexia have not been mentioned here before.

Of course it's all a bit tentative but some work has been done to find out if dyslexia and other non standard behavior symptoms is correlated to the ability of visual thinking.

Just some links:

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/health/1790.html

Some pioneer work has been done in the Netherlands:

http://www.euronet.nl/~mjkbeeld/

but also:
http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html

 

[leroyjenkens]

I tolerate spelling and grammar mistakes from scientists. I read a chemistry book that had tons of them. I'm fine with that, they're not teaching grammar. In a grammar book that I read, I only found one mistake throughout the entire book. It's a common one; mistaking "their" for "they're".
If there were more than one or two, I'd reconsider reading it.

 

[JustMeNotYou]

Hi Andre…

Thank you for the information…I will check out the websites. I am currently working to collect and research as much information as I can on dyslexia.

“dyslexia and other non standard behavior symptoms is correlated to the ability of visual thinking”

I am very much of a visual thinker…researchers claim that some dyslexics can process up to 10,000 pictures a minute in their “Mind’s Eye”. I have images in my mind for abstract concepts.

My girlfriend and I watched the “Grandin” Movie a few weeks ago…it really hit home with me as I can relate to her thinking patterns.

As said one theory said that it maybe an evolutionary throw back to hunter gathers cultures before writing.

If dyslexics think in pictures (visual) it would be interesting to learn if that; for examples give their alphabet/writing styles of the Chinese or Japanese have any people with dyslexia or if we could learn if the Egyptian Hieroglyphs lend itself to dyslexia.

What I have read is the due to Right Brain vs Left Brain is that Asians tend to be Right Brain oriented due to their alphabet/writing styles and that people like us who use alphabet are right brain dominate. However, based on personal experiences at that of other people I am beginning to think that in dyslexic people have brains that is both right and left dominate. Dyslexia is the result of the person’s brain internal struggle to join the right and left brain halfs together to create a higher thinking human being

 

[JustMeNotYou]

Leroy Jenkens...

Thank you for your comments.

I agree grammar books should be perfect in content and grammar; otherwise, what is the point of their existence...

English Grammar Class was never one of my best subjects as there seem to be no mathematical or logical structure for all of the rules.

However, I wrote some very thought provoking and interesting term and thesis papers high school and college. As a result I graduated with a 4.0 GPA. In college my then wife was a grammar expert...she would review my papers before I submitted my work.

Depending on the situation now my word processor, myself (re-read my content several times), my girlfriend or secretaries check my grammar and edit my writings..

One thing I have learned about language grammar is that it is evolving ever change - what was considered bad grammar yesterday is acceptable today...

To me, grammar is less important than the message as long as it can be understood...