Gonna have to beat on you a bit for that one ...
"Were thought"??? By whom? Seriously ... diagnosing long-since dead people is madness. This list belongs in the same trash heap as the lists of dead people that the professional homosexuals try to claim.
I was a psychological examiner for 30 years, and evaluated children and adults for all manner of mental disorders. I tested, in all that time, two children I diagnosed with autism. It was profound autism to the point they could not function.
As long as a person was functioning to run his/her daily life, I gave NO diagnosis of any mental disorder. That is the basic consideration when testing someone for a mental disorder. No person gets a legal diagnosis without complete psychological testing. I tested thousands of people and with each one, I was positive enough about that diagnosis that I could support it in court if that case ever went to court for any reason.
The list I put on here about those who may have had Asperger’s, is all over the net. Those people listed had mannerisms that fit some of the symptoms of Asperger’s. However, one cannot take “one” symptom and use that for a diagnosis. The DSM (latest one is V) that we use for a diagnosis, has a list of symptoms that must be satisfied before a diagnosis of that disorder can be made.
I have not tested those people from long ago history but their names are listed due to some behaviors they had. Due to their extremely high functioning, I'm not surprised they had behaviors unlike the majority of people.
The brilliant man, the high functioning Asperger type I know, who has some of those symptoms, does not function like the majority of people. His mind never stops working on problems to solve and he's not happy unless he is doing that. He considers programs on TV useless, a waste of his time, and doesn't watch TV. One could say that is weird behavior.
However, I examined his TV behavior one day by putting the TV on the program, “How It Works”. He was glued to that and said that program is worth watching. If we had scientific programs on the TV every day, he would watch some of them just like “normal” people. However, everything he saw on that program is now recorded in his brain - he won't forget any of it due to his extreme concentration that is present 24/7.
I saw him very recently and asked him about news stations like Fox and CNN. He will watch the news of the day and remember every word.
To him, food is necessary but irrelevant to spend his time thinking about it. He has to be very regimented to know where his house keys or car keys are, and most of the time, he still has to look for them in every pocket, hoping they are in there somewhere. One time, I had to go to a restaurant and retrieve his credit card he left there, and send it to him in another city where he lives.
His clothes are regimented just like Einstein had his. Einstein had white shirts all alike and suits all alike and shoes all alike and socks all alike. Whatever he took from the closet was the same so he didn't have to make any choices - just put on clothes. I must admit I have always done that too, since I was an adult. The sets of clothes are different, but they are bought together as a match, so I just lift out a clothes hanger and the whole thing is there, the jacket, the blouse/shirt, the pants or skirt, I don't have to think about choosing piece by piece, as it's already together. I do have other symptoms of Asperger’s just as the man I know, has. He is running his life and I am running mine, so neither of us deserves a mental disorder diagnosis.
As an aside, I can tell you this: I am safe from ever being psychologically examined because I KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS as I gave those tests for many years. :o)