The First Diagnosis of Autism

Autism was first described in 1943 by Austrian-American child psychiatrist Leo Kanner. This condition, which makes it difficult for people to communicate and relate to the world around them, was seen as very rare at the time. Anya Dorodeyko has been speaking to Dr James Harris, Professor of Child Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University in America, who was a colleague and a successor to Leo Kanner. Photo: Leo Kanner in 1955. (Credit: Science Photo Library)