Leo Kanner: His Years in Berlin, 1906-24. The Roots of Autistic Disorder

Abstract

By providing the first description of infantile autism Leo Kanner (1894-1981) has substantially influenced the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. The classification of the disorder seems to be evolving with progress in clinical and diagnostic research, epidemiology and genetics. In the current classification systems of ICD-10 and DSM-IV, Kanner's name is merely mentioned, in contrast to other specified pervasive developmental disorders. This article draws attention to Kanner's early scientific career at Berlin's Charité University Hospital which ended in 1924 with Kanner's emigration to the United States. The study is based on original documents such as the files of Kanner's doctoral thesis on electrocardiography and cardiophonography found at the archives of Humboldt University of Berlin, and his unpublished autobiography, located at the library of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington, DC.