Losing Oliver Sacks
Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in a different format as part of The Atlantic’s Notes section, retired in 2021.
Neurologist, writer, pianist, swimmer, weightlifter, mountaineer, motorcycle traveler. This list of vocations characterizes the remarkable life of Dr. Oliver Sacks, who died of cancer today at the age of 82.
Born in, later adapted into a film starring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro, Sacks profiled a group of patients suffering from a rare form of encephalitis that had rendered them into a seemingly permanent catatonic state—only to be temporarily revived. Eleven years later, t introduced readers to a variety of neurological maladies endured by his patients, whom Sacks depicted with humor, empathy, and grace.
