Though autism didn’t become the mainstream diagnosis until well into the 20th century, it is certainly not anything new.

History is full of people who many consider to be or have been somewhere on the autism spectrum.

Attention has been paid to Aspergers after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on SNL he had Aspergers.

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Famous Autistic People in History

• Dan Aykroyd – Comedic Actor
• Hans Christian Andersen – Children’s Author
• Benjamin Banneker – African American almanac author, surveyor, naturalist, and farmer
• Susan Boyle – Singer
• Tim Burton – Movie Director
• Lewis Carroll – Author of “Alice in Wonderland”
• Henry Cavendish – Scientist
• Charles Darwin – Naturalist, Geologist, and Biologist
• Emily Dickinson – Poet
• Paul Dirac – Physicist
• Albert Einstein – Scientist & Mathematician
• Bobby Fischer – Chess Grandmaster
• Bill Gates – Co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation
• Temple Grandin – Animal Scientist
• Daryl Hannah – Actress & Environmental Activist
• Thomas Jefferson – Early American Politician
• Steve Jobs – Former CEO of Apple
• James Joyce – Author of “Ulysses”
• Alfred Kinsey – Sexologist & Biologist
• Stanley Kubrick – Film Director
• Barbara McClintock – Scientist and Cytogeneticist
• Michelangelo – Sculptor, Painter, Architect, Poet
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Classical Composer
• Sir Isaac Newton – Mathematician, Astronomer, & Physicist
• Jerry Seinfeld – Comedian
• Satoshi Tajiri – Creator of Nintendo’s Pokémon
• Nikola Tesla – Inventor
• Andy Warhol – Artist
• Ludwig Wittgenstein – Philosopher
• William Butler Yeats – Poet