Speculated To Have Asperger’s Syndrome
Although the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome is not possible without direct testing and observation of an individual, it has been suggested by some authors that many successful historical figures may have had Asperger’s syndrome, including Mozart, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Marie Curie. Of course, definitive diagnosis of historical figures with Asperger’s syndrome is not possible, and many of the traits exhibited by people with Asperger’s syndrome can also occur because of intellectual giftedness or even attention deficit disorder – https://www.medicinenet.com/asperger_syndrome/article.htm
Perhaps the most powerful observation Diane M. Kennedy offers in defense of her theory is that the unusual characteristics of some of the most influential people in history are quite likely attributable to diagnoses that appear in this spectrum. Her personal acquaintance with the manifestations of these varying illnesses is, at times, compelling – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181243/
Edison And Dali Were Right
Is Edisons technique efficient to capture this creative sweet spot? We observed a slowing down of brain activity just before the drops. Because the sound provoked by the falling bottle woke up participants each time, Edisons technique could prevent participants from transitioning deeper into N2, which does not seem to benefit creativity.
However, we also observed that participants would sometimes drop the bottle even before reaching N1. These premature drops suggest that this technique is sensitive to early signs of sleepiness and could thus sometimes prevent participants from reaching the creative zone.
Moving To The United States
Tesla had been working at the Machine Works for a total of six months when he quit. What event precipitated his leaving is unclear. It may have been over a bonus he did not receive, either for redesigning generators or for the arc lighting system that was shelved. Tesla had previous run-ins with the Edison company over unpaid bonuses he believed he had earned. In his autobiography, Tesla stated the manager of the Edison Machine Works offered a $50,000 bonus to design “twenty-four different types of standard machines” “but it turned out to be a practical joke”. Later versions of this story have Thomas Edison himself offering and then reneging on the deal, quipping “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor”. The size of the bonus in either story has been noted as odd since Machine Works manager Batchelor was stingy with pay and the company did not have that amount of cash on hand. Tesla’s diary contains just one comment on what happened at the end of his employment, a note he scrawled across the two pages covering 7 December 1884, to 4 January 1885, saying “Good by to the Edison Machine Works”.
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Dozing Off To Solve Problems
To find out if a muse hides at the gates of sleep, we compared the ability of volunteers to solve a problem after a cat nap compared to volunteers staying awake.
Our hypothesis was that individuals who had dozed off would have a higher chance of having a Eureka! moment. But how to measure this in the lab? We decided to use the Number Reduction Task , in which participants must solve a series of arithmetic problems as quickly as possible following two simple rules.
Finding the solution is easy but tedious: you just need to proceed step by step. The beauty of the NRT lies in a hidden trick, a shortcut that allows the participant to skip most of the steps and find the solution rapidly and effortlessly.
Participants were not aware of the existence of this trick when starting the task. However, if they spontaneously uncover it, we immediately observed a sudden reduction in their solving time, allowing us to precisely track when these Eureka! moments occurred.
We tested 103 volunteers at the Sleep Disorders Department of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. These volunteers were first given 60 trials in advance, to get used to the task. A small proportion of them found the shortcut during this phase and were not included in further analyses. Then, participants were allowed to have a 20-minute break, in a dark room, on a comfortable chair with their eyes closed.
Polyphase System And The Columbian Exposition
By the beginning of 1893, Westinghouse engineer Charles F. Scott and then Benjamin G. Lamme had made progress on an efficient version of Tesla’s induction motor. Lamme found a way to make the polyphase system it would need compatible with older single-phase AC and DC systems by developing a rotary converter. Westinghouse Electric now had a way to provide electricity to all potential customers and started branding their polyphase AC system as the “Tesla Polyphase System”. They believed that Tesla’s patents gave them patent priority over other polyphase AC systems.
Westinghouse Electric asked Tesla to participate in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago where the company had a large space in the “Electricity Building” devoted to electrical exhibits. Westinghouse Electric won the bid to light the Exposition with alternating current and it was a key event in the history of AC power, as the company demonstrated to the American public the safety, reliability, and efficiency of an alternating current system that was polyphase and could also supply the other AC and DC exhibits at the fair.
A special exhibit space was set up to display various forms and models of Tesla’s induction motor. The rotating magnetic field that drove them was explained through a series of demonstrations including an Egg of Columbus that used the two-phase coil found in an induction motor to spin a copper egg making it stand on end.
An observer noted:
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Asperger’s Officially Placed Inside Autism Spectrum
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Many people with Asperger’s take pride in a diagnosis that is thought to describe many important historical figures, including Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. APhide caption
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Many people with Asperger’s take pride in a diagnosis that is thought to describe many important historical figures, including Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.
Asperger’s syndrome is really just a form of autism and does not merit a separate diagnosis, according to a panel of researchers assembled by the American Psychiatric Association.
Even though many researchers already refer to Asperger’s as high-functioning autism, it hasn’t been listed under the autism category in the official diagnostic guide of mental disorders, called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, or DSM. The DSM serves as a guide for mental health professionals and government agencies.
But a new draft fifth edition released Wednesday moves Asperger’s officially into the autism category, provoking a wide range of responses among people with Asperger’s some of whom say they do not want to be labeled as autistic.
Redefining A Disorder
Instead of including a diagnostic category for Asperger’s, the DSM 5 draft includes traits associated with Asperger’s, such as difficulty with social interactions and limited, repetitive behaviors, in a broad category called autism spectrum disorder.
Yet Carley says he agrees with the decision to fold Asperger’s into the autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.
Select An Area Of Study
Students select the area of study, or major, that matches their expertise or profession. Several areas of study, required students to possess professional certification or licensure. In some cases, students are required to complete a full year of calculus to meet degree requirements.
Students pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree may select from the following areas of study:
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Common Denominators Of Success For Unique Minds
What were some of the common denominators of the paths these unique minds took? What helped them be successful? To start, they grew up in educated families. Even though Edison dropped out of school, he was in a house full of books, of all different kinds. They also had early exposure to career interests. And they learned how to work hard at an early age, which is a deficiency today with a lot of kids who are quirky and different. These individuals also werent overspecialized and they had mentors. I had a science teacher in high school who turned me completely around and got me motivated to study for the first time in my young life.
Jane Goodall was looking at chickens when she was five years old, trying to figure out how they laid their eggs. She was a good high school student, raised in a home full of books. She spent her time reading all about chimpanzees and other animals. Her favorite novels were Dr. Doolittle, Tarzan, and The Jungle Book. In her era in England, girls became secretaries. Dr. Leakey hired her as a secretary, but had it in mind to employ her as a chimpanzee researcher, and he mentored her. The rest is history.
Elon Musk was a compulsive reader. He loved The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and he spent long hours at a local bookstore that let him just sit in there and read. Again, exposure to books and to skilled trades, through his fathers engineering projects, drove his curiosity and focused his mind on work, without overspecialization.
Strong Interests Support Success
One example of a trait of autism is called restricted interests. This is a type of restrictive behavior. Restricted interests have to do with how the person with ASD has an intense passion for a certain topic. Whereas people without autism often have a range of interests and can easily switch focus from one topic or activity to another and may not commit to excelling at one particular thing, people with autism may have a limited and narrow range of interests.
This characteristic may contribute to the success that many people with ASD experience in life. By being able to focus and maintain one core interest for years or even for most of ones life, the person with ASD can use this interest to accomplish great things.
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He Worked With Thomas Edison
If there were ever two inventors fated to be antagonists, it was Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Tesla possessed an intense, aloof, introverted personality, while Edison was a loud, boisterous businessman. According to the Tesla Memorial Society of New York, Tesla’s immigration happened because of a recommendation letter that inventor Charles Batchelor wrote to Edison, stating, “I know two great men. One is you, and the other is this young man.”
Inspired by their common fascination in electricity, Tesla journeyed to the U.S. with nothing but the clothes on his back, and a head buzzing with new ideas. He promptly went to work for Edison. At the time, Edison’s company was using “direct current” electricity, and the newbie Tesla proposed an innovative idea: replacing the inefficient direct current setup with what Tesla called “alternating current.” Edison scoffed at this, challenging Tesla to develop his ideas into a real invention. As incentive, Edison even offered the broke young European inventor a $50,000 reward, according to History.
So, Tesla gleefully pounced on the challenge, and within only a few months, he proudly offered Edison his successful results. One problem: Edison was a huge jerk about the whole thing, and he brushed Tesla off with a mean comment about how Tesla didn’t understand “American humor.” You can’t blame Tesla for leaving Edison’s company shortly afterward.
The Man Who Lit Up The World
On a chilly December afternoon in 1877, a group ofmen working in a small laboratory located in the isolated countrysideof Menlo Park, New Jersey, gathered around a table where a young man,barely 30 years old, sat with a curious machine on the table in frontof him. Never before having seen any machine like it, they asked whatthe device was for. “This machine,” the young man replied, eyeing thecrowd around him as he took a puff from his thick black cigar, “willtalk.”
The onlookers were aghast at the confident man’s claim. They began tomumble among themselves of the impossibility. But they knew this man,and he already had many amazing inventions to his credit, although hewas also the consummate practical joker. Undaunted, the young manchallenged the crowd of doubters to a wager in the currency theyalways used: cigars.
Years later Edison would say he was “always troubled by an invention that worked on the first try.” But without realizing it, he had, with a simple machine, forever changed the world. Moreover, the feat of recording sound had been accomplished by a man who was almost totally deaf.
Edison, however, recognized that the problem could be solved byapplying the principles he had developed for the telegraph,particularly the quadruplex. He intended to subdivide the electriccurrent so that he could light a string of incandescent lamps in aseries. His solution was novel and controversial, leading mostscientists of the day to reject it as impossible.
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Messi Autism Rumors Or Diagnosed
Lionel Messi is a worldwide soccer superstar, but there are rumors that he struggled with Autism early in life. According to WessexScene.com:
There are unconfirmed reports that Messi was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome at the age of 9.
As a child, Messi kept to himself and was known in his village as el pequeño mudito . His extreme focus on his sport has many autism experts convinced he has Aspergers or is somewhere on the autism spectrum.
Famous People With Autism
There are many famous people with autism. They include athletes, actors, inventors, business leaders, authors and artists.
There are about 180 famous autistic people I found as part of our research on Ongigs series on neurodiversity. I felt inspired to list all these amazing people in one place!
Disclaimers: This list includes famous people with Autism who have been diagnosed and those who have been reported or rumored to fall somewhere on the Autism spectrum. I do my best to list resources for any questionable ones and welcome feedback, additions and edits! I am not an expert on autism.
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Barbara Mcclintock Scientist And Cytogeneticist
McClintock was a notable scientist who made important breakthroughs in the study of chromosomes and how they change during the reproduction process. She is thought to be autistic. She was able to focus for great lengths on her interests, specifically her work, and she found social attention very aversive, so much so that she almost refused the Nobel Prize.
Anthony Hopkins Autism Facts
In 2017, Anthony Hopkins was interviewed by the Daily Mail about his troubles with addiction and Aspergers. Anthony Hopkins autistic diagnosis, more specifically Aspergers, was diagnosed late in life. He told the Daily Mail he was a loner and said:
I dont go to parties, I dont have many friendsBut I do like people. I do like to get inside their heads.
When asked if his Aspergers helped him as an actor, he said:
I definitely look at people differently. I like to deconstruct, to pull a character apart, to work out what makes them tick and my view will not be the same as everyone else. I get offered a lot of controlling parts, maybe because thats how people see me. And maybe I am very controlled because Ive had to be. I dont question it, I just take the parts because Im an actor and thats what I do.
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Thomas Edison’s First Wife May Have Died Of A Morphine Overdose
When Louis Carlat and his colleagues at the Thomas Edison Papers, which is based at Rutgers University, began working on Volume 7 of the papers in 2006, they benefitted from what Carlat calls an explosion of available electronic and digital historical sources.
Those new online sources helped Carlat and his team uncover new information about Edisons personal and professional life, including the intriguing possibility that his first wife, Mary Edison, died from a morphine overdose on August 9, 1884.
We were only able to find out as much about Marys death as we did by using those online sources. We would never have been able to get this far otherwise, said Carlat, managing editor of Volume 7, Loses and Loyalties: April 1883 December 1884, just published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
The evidence is circumstantial, not direct. Durling the 1880s, Carlat explained, doctors administered morphine and other opiates often, and for all sorts of complaints, especially to young, middle- and upper-class women. Morphine was easily available without a prescription. Just about every medical concoction you can think of in the 19th century had morphine or some sort of opiate in it, said Paul Israel, director of the Thomas Edison Papers.
It depicts Edisons life as he settles his business problems, returns to the laboratory, meets and marries Mina Edison, his second wife, and starts a second family.
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Stereotypy Is Also Behavior That Occurs During Typical Development
Posted February 15, 2010
OK, I freely admit that this post has nothing to do about one of my favorite founding fathers. Thomas Jefferson was brilliant, an eloquent writer, and one of the most influential men in the history of the United States. It has also been speculated that he had an ASD . As one critic of Norm Ledgin’s Diagnosing Jefferson said, it is hard to distinguish between eccentric behavior and traits of autism some 200 years down the road. It is nonetheless an interesting notion and a tie in to President’s Day. However, this post is about stereotypy.
Stereotypic behavior has been the subject of intense study for a long time. Behavior such as rocking or spinning one’s body, waving hands, flicking fingers in front of one’s eyes, putting hands or objects in one’s mouth, and emitting repetitive, noncommunicative sounds are examples of responses that have been characterized as stereotypic. Stereotypic behavior is among the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorders . Though it is often also present in persons diagnosed with other developmental disorders, it has been thought that stereotypy occurs more frequently and at greater intensities in people with autism . However, stereotypy is also behavior that occurs during typical development .
Again, the references in this post are numerous and if you’d like them, let me know. I’ll pop them in the comments.
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