Austrian paediatrician Hans Asperger identified Asperger’s syndrome as a mental disorder. This disorder is seen especially in children. He, for the first time, provided a clear description regarding autistic psychopathy. He conducted research on 400 psychically abnormal children with such problems for his work on autistic psychopathy. As a child he himself displayed features of the very condition named after him. He was lonely and had difficulty making friends even though he was gifted in the languages. He grew up to study medicine at the University of Vienna and eventually became director of the special education section at the university children’s clinic. After the World War II he published a definition of autistic psychopathy but died before his work on mental disorders became widely recognized. Medical science acknowledged his contribution after his death when his works were translated into English. Besides pursuing valuable research work in medical field, he also acted as a soldier in Croatia in the later part of World War II. Asperger's syndrome remains a controversial and contentious diagnosis due to its unclear relationship to the autism spectrum. The World Health Organization's ICD describes Asperger's syndrome as "a disorder of uncertain nosological validity", and there is majority consensus to phase the diagnosis out of the American Psychiatric Association's diagnosis manual.