Hans Asperger

Austrian pediatrician, medical theorist, and medical professor (1906-1980)

Hans Asperger (18 February 1906 – 21 October 1980) was an Austrian doctor of children. Asperger syndrome (AS) was named after him. Today, Asperger syndrome is seen as a form of Autism. Asperger was born in Vienna and died there. Asperger studied medicine at the University of Vienna under Franz Hamburger.[1] Because he wrote in German, his work was not widely known. It was only in the 1980s that it was translated. One of his students translated it in honor of Asperger.[1]

Hans Asperger worked in Austria when it was occupied by Nazi Germany. Some people say that he was complicit in the forced euthanasia of disabled children by the Nazis.[2][3]

References change

  1. 1.0 1.1 Just, Marcel Adam; Pelphrey, Kevin Archer (2013). Development and brain systems in autism. New York: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-1-84872-640-6. OCLC 767569386.
  2. Czech, Herwig (December 2018). "Hans Asperger National Socialism and "race hygiene" in Nazi-era Vienna". Molecular Autism. 9 (1): 29. doi:10.1186/s13229-018-0208-6. ISSN 2040-2392. PMC 5907291. PMID 29713442.
  3. Sheffer, Edith (31 March 2018). "Opinion | The Nazi History Behind Asperger". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 August 2021.