• @[email protected]
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    710 hours ago

    Alfred Krupp, German steel manufacturer, inventor, and the largest arms dealer of his age.

    He was obsessed with building cannons and built the first successful breech loading cannon of cast steel. Common wisdom was that such cannons would explode and kill their operators. He kept building cannons even though nobody would buy them.

    He was an extreme hypocondriac who also suffered from depression. He would not leave his bed for weeks or months at a time. He would weigh anyone who visited his house and kept over thirty years of records before he died. He loved the smell of horse dung and had his office built over the stables so he could always smell it.

  • Frezik
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    10 hours ago

    Thomas Jefferson. Good at writing, shit at social conventions. Developed a whole mechanised house via slaves. Slavery might not be an autistic trait, but mechanizing your house is.

    I wouldn’t consider him a positive example, but he almost certainly was autistic.

  • @[email protected]
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    23 hours ago

    Probably a major amount of important scientists. Many are known to have been eccentric or downright socially inept; while social ineptitude can be a bit of a hindrance for becoming famous, eccentricity helps a lot with making people remember you. Do most people know Einstein because of his science, or because he’s visually distinct and has that wild photo with his tongue out?

    • @[email protected]
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      3522 hours ago

      Probably Newton and Tesla. Both seemed to not really understand other people and were more focused on their specific hobbies

    • wuphysics87
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      315 hours ago

      The Einstein picture was on his bIrthday when he wad asked to smile. Not sure if that confirms or refutes your argument

    • @[email protected]OP
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      1423 hours ago

      I think I know Einstein because it was so common to call people Einstein either genuinely or sarcastically, I didn’t see the tongue out photo til probably a decade after

      • @[email protected]
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        23 hours ago

        I’d assume that he got that reputation because of that image. Once a person becomes a household name, the original thing that made them famous often becomes somewhat forgotten; it’s similar to how today’s memes work. As an example, I’ve been somewhat involved with pokemon online culture for over 10 years and knew about the nuzlocke challenge, but only today did I learn that it came from a webcomic. And I actually read a lot of webcomics, and the webcomic in question was pretty high quality.

  • ileftreddit
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    1920 hours ago

    Henry Cavendish

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cavendish

    Scientific genius, asocial and probably asexual, extremely shy, especially so around women, could only talk to one person at a time, and then only if he knew them, and they were male. Also the largest depositor at the Bank of England in his day.

  • @[email protected]
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    2721 hours ago

    There is a legit theory in historical circles that Galileo Galilei was brcause he clearly didn’t understand some social conventions. Additionally, he was really ok with home arrest.

    • @[email protected]
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      11 hours ago

      Oh no, sentenced to stay at my house where all my favorite stuff is, and a legally binding excuse to not have to go to that thing someone invited me to. You sure showed me, whatever shall I do?

  • @[email protected]
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    4523 hours ago

    Mozart. Dude heard an exclusive Catholic track and copied it at 14.

    So I am sure he had a touch of the 'tism.