http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Asperger offers a fuzzy photo of
Hans Asperger (Feb. 18, 1906 – Oct. 21, 1980), the Austrian
pediatrician after whom Asperger's Syndrome is named.
> Born in Vienna, Asperger published the first definition of
Asperger's 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 favourite subject in great detail....
> 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.
> Ironically, 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....
> Asperger died before his identification of this pattern of
behaviour became widely recognized because his work was
mostly in German and little-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 challenged the
previously accepted model of autism presented by Leo Kanner
in 1943.
> International Asperger's Year, 2006, marks the 100th
anniversary of Dr. Asperger's birth and the 25th anniversary of Dr.
Wing's landmark paper. International Asperger's Year was
conceived by the Asperger Adults of Greater Washington.