Oliver Wolf Sacks (1933–2015) was a British neurologist and writer. He was one of the world’s most respected neurologists, having made a name for himself in the field of neurology with his work with post-encephalitic patients in New York hospitals. He also won acclaim for his sympathetic case histories of patients with unusual neurological disorders.
Born in London into a family of physicians and scientists, Sacks earned his medical degree at Queen’s College in Oxford, and did residencies and fellowship work at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco and at University of California Los Angles. He lived in New York since 1965, practicing as a neurologist at New York University and Columbia University.
Sacks was also well known for his best-selling books, including A Leg to Stand On (1984,) The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1986,) and An Anthropologist on Mars (1995.) Awakenings (1973,) his autobiographical account of treating patients with encephalitis lethargica, a condition that renders people motionless, was later adapted in a acclaimed film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.
Sacks’ autobiography, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (2001,) reveals how family traditions shaped his passion for science in its many forms. His Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brai (2007) describes the healing power of music.
Sacks died months after being diagnosed with terminal eye cancer—the ocular melanoma had previously been treated spread to his liver. A collection of essays, The River of Consciousness (2017,) was published posthumously.
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I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return.
—Oliver Sacks
Patients who can get even part of the way to acknowledging their mortality ultimately do themselves an untold favor.
—Oliver Sacks
We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognize and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there are other senses – secret senses, sixth senses, if you will – equally vital, but unrecognized, and unlauded.
—Oliver Sacks
Topics: Self-Discovery