Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) was born in London. He studied neurology at Queen's College, Oxford, and lived in New York from 1965 onwards. He was a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the NYU School of Medicine. His scientific work earned him numerous international accolades. He was a regular contributor to "The New Yorker" and "The New York Review of Books," as well as many medical journals. The "New York Times" called Dr. Sacks "the poet laureate of medicine." He published several books, including "Migraine" (1970), "Awakenings" (1973), "A Leg to Stand On" (1984), "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" (1985), "Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf" (1989), "An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales" (1995), "The Island of the Colorblind" (1996), "Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood" (2001), "Oaxaca Journal" (2002), "Musicophilia" (2007), "The Mind's Eye" (2010), "Hallucinations" (2012), "On the Move: A Life" (2015), and "Gratitude" (posthumously, 2015). His books have been translated into 22 languages and sold millions of copies. Harold Pinter and Peter Brook adapted his books into theatrical performances, while "Awakenings" inspired the eponymous American film starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. In 2006, Oliver Sacks was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma, which resulted in the loss of one eye. He later learned that he was among "the 2% of unlucky patients" for whom this type of cancer causes metastases. On February 19, 2015, he announced in an article in the "New York Times" that he had only a few months to live, as the metastases in his liver had multiplied. "Now I must decide how to live out the months that remain. I want to live them in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can," he added. This reflection resulted in the book "My Own Life: Thoughts on the Impending Death" (combined with a corresponding 1776 text by David Hume). Confirming medical predictions, Sacks succumbed to the disease on August 30, 2015, at the age of 82.