Die Oliver Sacks, the Neuroscience poet – Terra Brazil

The neuroscientist and British writer died at age 82 in New York, a victim of cancer. Author of bestsellers, Sacks wore personal and clinical experiences to write humorous way about the human mind.

If neurologist writer or writer researcher, Oliver Sacks does not allow a precise definition of himself: in both fields he shone.

Sacks wrote about the tortuous paths of the human brain and exploring case studies in funny stories of human nature. The British scientist died Sunday (30/08), aged 82, at his home in New York, reported the New York Times. He fought cancer.

As a doctor and writer, he achieved enormous popularity, especially in the United States, where it sold over a million copies. Sacks described his work as “patografia” or “neurological romance.”

In his scientific books, he wrote often with humor about neurological diseases. The most famous is a collection of 24 case studies entitled The man who mistook his wife for a hat (1985).

Sacks told stories like the blind patient Madleine J., who considered his hands as “useless pieces of dough”, or submarine telegraph Jimmie G., imagined decades ago in 1945, or the Dr. P., who thought his wife was a hat, as his brain could not decipher what their eyes saw.

Inspiration

Bestsellers ensured Sacks an unusual name among the scientific community. His books have been adapted for film and theater.

Every year, it received about 10,000 letters from fans around the world. “I answer without exception to every sender has less than ten or more than 90 years or who is in prison,” he said.

The version for cinemas of the book Awakenings (1973), with performances by Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro, was nominated for an Oscar in 1991.

After the news of his death, famous intellectuals paid tributes to neuroscientist. The British author JK Rowling, Harry Potter series author, Sacks described as a “great inspirer of mankind.”

Curiosity unlimited

In their case studies, Sacks was a picture of people who came out normal. “A little brain damage, and we come to another world,” he once said.

The scientist himself as a discoverer and “naturalistic”. His boundless curiosity led him to research on various topics and write about old age, color perception, Sigmund Freud, hallucinations and photography.

Sacks published autobiography – Always on the move – this year alone. As well as details of its history, the book brings real life stories, funny, happy and sad.

In February, Sacks revealed in an article published in the New York Times who was terminally ill. The melanoma that left him blind in one eye nine years ago has evolved into a metastasis in the liver.

“My luck ran out,” he wrote. Death, for him, was not an “abstract concept” but “too close presence that can not be denied.”