Hans Asperger, who discovered Asperger syndrome, described his patients as "little professors".

Hans Asperger (b. February 18, 1906, d. October 21, 1980) was the Austrian pediatrician after whom Asperger syndrome is named. Image File history File linksMetadata Hans_Aspergersmall. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Hans_Aspergersmall. ... Asperger syndrome — also referred to as Aspergers syndrome, Aspergers disorder, Aspergers, or just AS — is a pervasive developmental disorder related to autism. ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 71 days remaining. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics or pædiatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants and children. ... Asperger syndrome — also referred to as Aspergers syndrome, Aspergers disorder, Aspergers, or just AS — is a pervasive developmental disorder related to autism. ...

Life

Born on a farm outside Vienna, Asperger displayed an early talent for languages. He was a member in the youth movements of the 1920s. He earned his medical doctorate in 1931, and found his first job a year later as a member of the university children's clinic. In 1934, his career developed with a move to the psychiatric hospital in Leipzig. Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called at various places and times, mental hospital, mental ward, sanitarium or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...   [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony in Germany with a population of over 504,000. ...

It is not certain what Asperger did during the early years of World War II. In the later years of the war he was a soldier in Croatia. In 1944, after the publication of his landmark paper describing autistic symptoms, he found a permanent tenured post at the University of Vienna. Shortly after the war ended, he became director of a children's clinic in the city. He later held posts at both Innsbruck and Vienna. Then, beginning in 1964, he headed the SOS-Kinderdorf in Hinterbrühl. During his life, he published over 350 medical papers. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The University of Vienna (German: Universität Wien) in Vienna, Austria is the oldest university in the current Austro-Hungarian domain; it formally opened in 1365. ... Innsbruck is a city in western Austria, and the capital of the federal state of Tyrol. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... SOS Childrens Villages is an independent, non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. ...

Asperger's Syndrome

Asperger published the first definition of Asperger syndrome in 1944. In four boys, he identified a pattern of behavior and abilities that he called "autistic psychopathy", meaning autism (self) and psychopathy (personality disease). The pattern included "a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements." Asperger called children with AS "little professors" because of their ability to talk about their favorite subject in great detail. It is commonly said that the paper was based on only four boys. However, Dr. Günter Krämer, of Zürich, who knew Asperger, states that it "was based on investigations of more than 400 children". Asperger syndrome — also referred to as Aspergers syndrome, Aspergers disorder, Aspergers, or just AS — is a pervasive developmental disorder related to autism. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Empathy (from the Greek εμπάθεια, to make suffer) is commonly defined as ones ability to recognize, perceive and directly experientially feel the emotion of another. ... Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behaviour between two or more humans. ... For the movie from Francis Ford Coppola, see The Conversation. ... A professor is a senior teacher and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... A blank sheet of paper Paper is a commodity of thin material produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. ... View of the inner city with the four main churches visible, and the Albis in the backdrop Zürich (German: , Zürich German: Züri , French: , in English generally Zurich, Italian: ) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and...

Asperger was convinced that many of the children he identified as having autistic symptoms would use their special talents in adulthood. He followed one child, Fritz V., into adulthood. Fritz V. became a professor of astronomy and solved an error in Newton’s work he originally noticed as a child. Hans Asperger’s positive outlook contrasts strikingly with Leo Kanner's description of autism, of which Asperger's is often considered to be a high-functioning form. A boy with autism and his mother Autism refers to a spectrum of disorders, and lies somewhere under the umbrella of a greater encompassing spectrum, that of pervasive developmental disorders that involve the functioning of the brain. ... See Adult. ... A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant Astronomy is the science of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earths atmosphere (such as auroras and cosmic background radiation). ... The newton (symbol: N) is the SI unit of force. ... Dr Leo Kanner MD Leo Kanner (June 13, 1894 - April 4, 1981) was an Austrian-American physician known for his work related to autism. ... Autism is classified by the World Health Organization and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability that results from a disorder of the human central nervous system. ... Hans Asperger (February 18, 1906_October 21, 1980) was the Austrian pediatrician after whom Aspergers Syndrome is named. ...

Near the end of World War II, Asperger opened a school for children with autistic psychopathy, with Sister Victorine. The school was bombed towards the end of the war, Sister Victorine was killed, the school was destroyed and much of Hans Asperger's early work was lost. It was this event that arguably delayed the understanding of autistic spectrum conditions in the west. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Students in Rome, Italy. ... A boy with autism and his mother Autism refers to a spectrum of disorders, and lies somewhere under the umbrella of a greater encompassing spectrum, that of pervasive developmental disorders that involve the functioning of the brain. ... Psychopathy (pronounced in General American), not to be confused with psychosis, is a term derived from the Greek psyche (mind) and pathos (suffering), and was once used to denote any form of mental illness. ... The autistic spectrum (sometimes referred to as the autism spectrum) is a developmental and behavioral syndrome that results from certain combinations of traits. ...

Interestingly, as a child, Hans Asperger appears to have exhibited features of the very condition named after him. He was described as a remote and lonely child, who had difficulty making friends. He was talented in language; in particular he was interested in the Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer, whose poetry he would frequently quote to his uninterested classmates. Look up Remote in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A remote may mean: A remote control A remote broadcast As an adjective, anything which is distant or desolate. ... Lonely describes a human state or feeling involving isolation, etc. ... Friends. ... Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer (January 15, 1791 - January 21, 1872), Austrian dramatic poet, was born in Vienna. ...

Asperger died before his identification of this pattern of behavior became widely recognized, because his work was mostly in German and barely translated. The first person to use the term "Asperger's Syndrome" in a paper was British researcher Lorna Wing. Her paper, Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account, was published in 1981 and it challenged the previously accepted model of autism presented by Leo Kanner in 1943. Unlike Kanner, Dr. Asperger's findings were ignored and disregarded in the English-speaking world in his lifetime. Finally, from the early 1990s, his findings began to gain notice, and nowadays Asperger's Syndrome is recognized as a condition worldwide. Translation may refer to: broadcast translator, rebroadcasting a signal at a different frequency machine translation, the conversion of a computer program from one programming language to another; e. ... Asperger described his patients as little professors. Aspergers syndrome (AS, or the more common shorthand Aspergers), is characterized as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders, and is commonly referred to as a form of high functioning autism. ... Dr Lorna Wing (born 7 October 1928) is an English psychiatrist and physician. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Autism is classified by the World Health Organization and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability that results from a disorder of the human central nervous system. ... Dr Leo Kanner MD Leo Kanner (June 13, 1894 - April 4, 1981) was an Austrian-American physician known for his work related to autism. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... Asperger described his patients as little professors. Aspergers syndrome (AS, or the more common shorthand Aspergers), is characterized as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders, and is commonly referred to as a form of high functioning autism. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

International Asperger's Day, February 18, marks the anniversary of Dr. Asperger's birth. International Asperger's Day was conceived by Asperger Services Australia. February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

Further reading

• Uta Frith (ed.): Autism and Asperger Syndrome (translated and annotated version of Asperger's 1944 paper), Cambridge University Press, 1991; ISBN 0-521-38608-X

Uta Frith is a leading developmental psychologist working at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Papers

• Asperger, H. (1944), Die 'Autistischen Psychopathen' im Kindesalter, Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 117, pp.76-136.
• Asperger, H. (1968), Zur Differentialdiagnose des Kindlichen Autismus, Acta paedopsychiatrica, 35, pp.136-145.
• Asperger, H. (1979), Problems of Infantile Autism, Communication, 13, pp.45-52.

Reference

• "Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account" Lorna Wing, Psychological Medicine, vol 11, no 1, p 115-129 (February, 1981) reprinted with permission from Cambridege University Press

Dr Lorna Wing (born 7 October 1928) is an English psychiatrist and physician. ...

See also

• Asperger Syndrome
• List of Austrian scientists

Asperger syndrome — also referred to as Aspergers syndrome, Aspergers disorder, Aspergers, or just AS — is a pervasive developmental disorder related to autism. ... This is a list of Austrian scientists. ...

External links

• Autistic type or autistic disorder ? , Definition
• UDel.edu - 'Online Asperger Syndrome Information & Support' (OASIS)
• Yahoo.com - 'International Asperger's Day - February 18' (listserv)