There is speculation that Isaac Newton was autistic, a position I hold. Eminent experts who have written that Newton exhibited autistic traits include Simon Baron-Cohen, a psychology professor and director of the Autism Research Center at Cambridge University, Ioan James, a mathematics professor and historian of science at Oxford University, and Michael Fitzgerald, a psychiatry professor and autism expert at Trinity College Dublin. James wrote that “Newton appears to be the earliest known example of a person with any form of autism.”
Newton's renowned eccentricity aligns with the disproportionately high representation of autistic among geniuses, despite the potentially disabling effects. High-functioning autistic often display exceptional talents and a keen interest in comprehending complex systems such as found in mathematics, physics, logic, data science, and engineering. Baron-Cohen notes a relatively high occurrence of autism among the relatives of mathematicians, engineers, and physicists, citing Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel, Nikola Tesla, and Paul Dirac as potentially autistic.
Similar to Newton, the high-functioning autistic typically exhibit intense focus and a deep understanding within a narrow range of interests, alongside tendencies towards repetitive behavior and a preference for routine. Newton's obsession with his work, to the point of neglecting basic needs like eating, exemplifies this trait. Additionally, the autistic often struggle socially due to challenges with social intuition and empathy, as observed in Newton's solitary childhood and difficulty forming close friendships.
Communication difficulties are also common among the autistic, as evidenced by Newton's reserved demeanor and avoidance of casual conversation. He preferred to divert attention away from himself, a characteristic of some autistic. Further, the autistic are often heterodox thinkers and interpret things literally, as seen in Newton's unconventional religious beliefs and plain language reading of the Bible. In Trinitarian England, Newton was secretly Unitarian because he could not find the Holy Trinity mentioned in the Christian Bible.
However, it remains impossible to conclusively diagnose historical figures, as noted by Glen Elliott, a psychiatrist at the University of California in San Francisco. In person examination is usually required, autism exists on a spectrum, and some behaviors may overlap with other conditions. Newton lived long before the modern understanding and diagnosis of autism.
Despite the debate, Baron-Cohen hopes that analyzing historical figures like Newton through a lens of autism can offer insights into why some individuals with autism excel while others struggle. Fitzgerald said, "Psychiatry tends to focus almost exclusively on the negative side of different forms of mental illness. I want to show that psychiatric disorders can also have positive dimensions."