Leo Kanner (pronounced "Kahner"; June 13, 1894 – April 3, 1981) was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. In 1943, Kanner published a landmark paper, "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact" describing 11 children who were highly intelligent but displayed "a powerful desire for aloneness" and "an obsessive insistence on persistent sameness". He later names their condition "early infantile autism." This is now known as autism. Because of this he is referred as the "father of child psychiatry". He is considered to be one of the most influential American clinical psychiatrists of the 20th century.