The term "autism" was coined by Eugen Bleuler in 1908. It comes from the Greek word "autós", meant "self", as Bleuler used it to describe a schizophrenic patient who had withdrawn into his own world. This term went on to describe severely withdrawn schizophrenic patients.

The first name to come up when you think of Autism research is probably Hans Asperger, a German psychiatrist. What many people don't know, however, was that he had Nazi ties and believed in eugenics. He studied children who would be considered "high functioning", and published a paper on the topic which coined the term "Asperger's Syndrome." He was the subject of controversy for his ties to several organizations affiliated with the Nazi party. He advocated for race hygiene polices, including forced sterilization, and participated in the child euthenasia program. He was mentioned to try to protect some children from the wrath of the Nazi's, his "most promising" cases, the only ones that he believed be assets. 

Leo Kanner was an Austrian-American phsychiatrist best known for his Autism research in the 1930's - 1940's. He borrowed the term "Autism" from Eugene Bleuler, but did not consider Autism to be the same as Schizophrenia. The symptoms were not identical, and unlike Schizophrenic patients, Kanner's patients showed signs since birth. He founded the first child psychiatry clinic in the country, and unlike other researches of the time, had a humane approach to his research. He dedicated his life to fighting against the abuse of intellectually disabled children, and made extraordinary efforts to help those trapped in Nazi-occupied territories. His research concluded that people with Autism, specifically the children he studed, had "a powerful desire for aloneness" and "an obsessive instistence on persistent sameness," emphasizing how Autistic children struggled to form the same social connections as their neuroptypical peers. However, he also emphasized that no matter how different, each child should be treated with respect and as the unique person they are.