Many years ago, before my journey into learning more about neurodiversity, I posted an article about Henry Cavendish featuring the perspective that he was a notorious misogynist. This was, in large part, how some of his contemporaries and later biographers would interpret some of his behavior.
But in reading this book:
I thankfully got a new perspective on Cavendish that I want to share as part of the Representing Regency Series. Following a Reader Question about cerebral palsy in the era, I have been working towards where to start sharing about differently abled humans in the era. I think this is as good a start as any, particularly as I have been thinking a lot about how neurodiversity presented itself in the era, grappling with my own experience and working on several Regency works in progress featuring neurodiverse characters.
Silberman devotes many pages to discussing Cavendish and shares that it has become obvious to some autism experts that Cavendish was autistic (or at least neurodivergent). Silberman himself strays from diagnosing Cavendish, but the evidence he presents about Cavendish’s eccentricities (some of which are now known as sensitivities or excitabilities), the single minded devotion to natural science (focus on special interests) and other behaviours, including repetition, difficulties with eye contact and speech, do suggest that Henry Cavendish was likely on the spectrum.
Born in 1731, Cavendish was a devoted natural scientist whose research and philosophy is still influential today. Silberman lauded him as perhaps one of the most important scientists of his time. With a large inheritance from a devoted father, Cavendish would turn in his estate in Clapham Commons to a living laboratory and purchase another town home for his library, in order to open it up to other researchers and academics. Famous for his “great accuracy and precision in researches”, Cavendish left Cambridge after four years without receiving a degree or ever publishing his findings (https://www.famousscientists.org/henry-cavendish/), and similarly would often not publish or patent all of his research. The research was what was important, more than his ego or achieving recognition.
Things that are commonly credited to Cavendish were his discovery of hydrogen, laws governing electrical attraction and repulson, and his remarkable accuracy for weighing the earth. He was devoted to measuring everything from the turns of a wheel on a cart on the odd journey to study a factory, to the temperature to which he was said to have hundreds, if not thousands of thermometers. His research is expansive, deep, and fascinating and contributed to a variety of scientific breakthroughs in his time and beyond.
For all his prolific work, Cavendish had social difficulties and they were remarked upon by his contemporaries. Mostly people thought of him as extremely shy. Because of a few anecdotes, he was said to also hate or be terrified of women, but Silberman notes one of Cavendish’s regular correspondents who he kept up to date with his work was Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, who was interested in chemistry. Cavendish certainly never married and was not know to broadly affiliate with women, however it can be argued that all of Cavendish’s social interactions were marked by his challenges to communicate in ways allistic people could understand.
I have included a few articles that discuss Cavendish, with respect to retro-diagnosis of him as autistic, including one from an autism blog that frames this from an #actuallyautistic perspective. But like cerebral palsy, there was no language for autism in the early 19th century. The term autism was not coined until 1911, and it would be only within the last few decades that neurodivergence has become a concept that emphasizes difference over disability.
The reality is, Cavendish’s behavior was an anomaly that was talked about as such. He was a brilliant scientist, and recognized as such. But some of his closest colleagues, like Humphry Davy, would categorize him as cold or unfeeling. This is a stereotype about people on the spectrum that is only based on a neuro-typical interpretation of behavior/social norms. He was also described as a woman hater, shy or extremely shy, and eccentric. I have shared one snip from a Victorian era brief about Cavendish to show how contemporaries and later people viewed his difference.
Cavendish was lucky in that he had great wealth and a supportive community of friends and family to rally around him and provide the support he needed to focus on his interests and navigate a neuro-typical world. Without that enormous wealth, its likely things would have been more difficult for Cavendish. Silberman even suggests that it would not have been unlikely for someone like Cavendish to be placed in Bethlem or a similar institution.
Neurodiversity is a spectrum. There is a saying in the autistic community “Once you met one autistic person, you have met one autistic person.” In my own experience, I know this to be true. Some sensitivities are similar, some behaviors have similar roots but different presentations, but generally neurodiverse people are not a monolith. What this suggests, with respect to the 19th Century, is that there were likely many outcomes for neurodiverse people. In that respect, not much has changed.
I have seen a lot of articles in the past few years (probably because I am more attuned to the subject matter) retro-diagnosing notable historical figures as autistic. Jane Austen has been speculated to be autistic, for example. (Here are some links if you are interested: Austen Authors, AustenBlog, Reddit). I have a lot of mixed feelings about the ethics of arm-chair retro diagnosing historical figures, but I do also think it raises awareness about the contributions autistic people have made to culture and society. My intent in sharing Cavendish’s story is not to myself retro-diagnose, but to recontextualize a post I made about him four years ago.
The image is one of few made of Henry Cavendish, and show his favor for outmoded clothing. Silberman states that Cavendish wore the same thing every day, and when one suit wore out would have another fashioned in the same style and color.
I apologize for perpetuating these stories and perspectives about a brilliant scientist who undoubtedly struggled, knowing he was different but finding it nearly impossible to conform. I am glad that I rediscovered him in Silberman’s book, and had my eyes opened to recontextualize what I had read about Cavendish.
I will also be continuing this series, exploring other different abilities and how they would have been considered and managed in the Regency era. I welcome your insight, input, and comments on these important topics.
www.aspie-editorial.com » Blog Archive » Paul Dirac & Henry Cavendish “How Autism Leads To Genius”
Lidbetter, H. (2009). Henry Cavendish and Asperger’s syndrome: A new understanding of the scientist,
Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 46, Issue 8, 2009, Pages 784-793,
Sacks, O. (2001) Henry Cavendish: An Early Case of Asperger’s Syndrome? Neurology, October 2001, 57 (7) 1347.
Here is his entry in the book (1875) English Eccentrics and Eccentricities:
