Two geniuses, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, may have had Asperger’s syndrome, British scientists believe.
Although it is impossible to accurately diagnose two of the greatest physicists in human history, their personalities have been studied by Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University and Ivan James of Oxford University.
New Scientist magazine said: “Newton looks a bit conventional.
He said little, was so absorbed in his work that he often forgot to eat, and was cold and ill-tempered with the few friends he had.
Newton was, by nature, a loner who preferred to retreat into a corner and isolate himself from the whole world.”
Cohen argues that Einstein was also a loner, repeating sentences as a child.
In a paper published in the journal Medical Biography, Irish professor Gerrard said Michelangelo was lonely and aloof, and had symptoms consistent with Asperger’s syndrome.
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