Retrospectively Diagnosing Einstein with Asperger's Syndrome and the Dismal Failure of Debunking Myths

TL;DR

This paper critiques the practice of diagnosing deceased scientists like Einstein with autism, arguing that such diagnoses are often myths rooted in misleading metaphors and misconceptions.

Contribution

It challenges the validity of posthumous diagnoses of Einstein with Asperger's syndrome and exposes the myths underlying common narratives about his personality and work.

Findings

Historians oppose diagnosing deceased scientists from scant evidence.

Posthumous diagnoses often rely on misleading metaphors.

Myths about Einstein's personality persist despite historical critiques.

Abstract

In 2003, Simon Baron-Cohen, a world expert on autism, diagnosed Einstein posthumously with Asperger's syndrome. I think we cannot diagnose a dead person. Historians of science have fiercely objected to this trend of diagnosing deceased scientists by reconstructing from scant evidence, calling these diagnoses myths. Despite the historians' efforts at demolishing myths, Einstein has been constantly diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. I will stick my neck out and suggest in this paper that although historians' critique of Baron-Cohen and others includes debunking myths, it piggybacks on another myth that uses the following metaphors: a dull and socially adept Einstein who worked at Zurich, Prague, Berlin, and Princeton, an industrious scientist who earned his living through his work as a professor at the university; he had a special gift of friendship and collegiality, and he was deeply embedded in the academic community. These explanations do not make sense from the perspective of Einstein sitting in his office at Princeton, let alone Einstein sitting in the patent office. This perhaps explains the tendency of people to find counterclaims and myths more persuasive than historians' explanations which seem deeply problematic.