He wasn't a good neuroscientist, and he was a bit unlucky.
Generally speaking, neuroscience research is done daily to do experiments, write papers, and upside down the brains of various animals, trying to obtain some discoveries that subvert cognition. But he was not good at experimenting, nor did he have heavyweight papers, and even extremely precious samples were unstable.
Like many hard-working ordinary people, he tried to be a successful sample in science—he tried to learn anatomy, and his grades were still counted down; he did experiments well but lost his data report while riding a motorcycle; he went to the hospital for internships, and he always caused trouble for others.
Although he did not succeed in scientific research, his name still spread around the world, and he even landed on an asteroid in the solar system.
He was the British neuroscientist Oliver Wolf Sacks.
The saxophone |thepsychologist.bps.org.uk on a motorcycle
Famous people
Sachs was born in 1933 to a middle-class intellectual family in London, England, to parents who were famous London doctors. Grandpa was an inventor, and at the end of the 19th century, he had a bunch of invention patents (mainly electric lights), and even the Wright brothers who invented the airplane came to visit from time to time. The other seven aunts and eight uncles were also mostly outstanding mathematicians, scientists or educators of the time, and even produced a Nobel Laureate in Economics, Robert Aumann. Other people's family gatherings are eating and drinking, and their family gatherings are academic exchanges.
You may think that growing up in such a well-rooted science and technology home, Sachs's scientific research path should be flat and stable.
At the beginning, Sachs's parents also thought so, after all, this child is born to be a curious baby, after literacy, the favorite place to visit is the library turning right at the door, all day long after chasing aunt and uncle to ask this and that, three or four years old can ask "why sugar dissolves", "how electricity flows", "why is the metal shiny" and other high-quality human cub questions, do not get a satisfactory answer and never give up.
Well, it's a good seedling for Science.
In 1940, the family of the Sachs family was photographed, and the young child in the lower left corner was Sachs | FROM UNCLE TUNGSTEN: MEMORIES OF A CHEMICAL BOYHOOD
But just as Sachs was about to turn 6 and go to school, two bad news suddenly came out of the sky: World War II had begun; they were Jews. This means that Sachs is going to say goodbye to a happy childhood.
Although the Germans did not really hit the British mainland, they still carried out a brutal bombing of central cities such as London, and even the schools they chose were blown into slag.
Sachs's parents were to treat the wounded, and Sachs and his brother were sent to a remote boarding school in central England by government arrangements. As a result, it became a lifetime shadow for saxophone.
The lack of supplies under the war made the originally benevolent and benevolent principal extremely greedy and violent, confiscating all the food sent by his parents to the children for himself, and using the turnips and beetroots fed to the animals to give the students three meals a day. Not only that, but his greatest pleasure was beating children, especially lower-grade Jewish children like saxophone, and when the crutches were discounted, the parents lost money.
As a child, Sachs' father often took him to swim |oliversacks.com
The school that was supposed to teach and educate was full of violence and oppression, and Sachs felt as if he were in hell on earth. It wasn't until four years later that the tide of battle turned around that Sachs returned home in London.
On the surface, Sachs' enthusiasm for learning is still high, and he will occasionally ask questions of relatives. But the physical and mental trauma that lasted for four years may have invisibly changed Sachs's mind.
His behavior gradually became outrageous.
Fade into a crooked path
Sachs first joined the British Boy Scouts to learn wilderness survival skills, but the skills did not learn much, but they dragged oil bottles all day long to add to the chaos. Once he ran out of flour, he came with a handful of cement to toast everyone, and the instructor praised his bread on the front foot, and the back foot was broken with two front teeth.
Later, Sachs set up a simple chemistry laboratory at home to pour various reagents, although he did not flatten his house, but also made a miasma everywhere; he deliberately coated the fresh fish he bought at home with trimethylamine (a stinky fish-smelling chemical), hid in the corner to see how his mother covered her nose and threw them into the garbage can; once made a bottle of hydrofluoric acid that was enough for the whole family to receive a box lunch.
Finally, his parents couldn't stand it, they were hoping that their children would inherit the family business as doctors when they grew up, and Sachs Middle School was still hanging out.
They felt it was time to send the sachs to practice the autopsy and develop a relationship with the corpse.
As a result, the first time Sachs walked into the morgue, he almost fainted. Facing the corpse in front of him, he could not close his feelings and regarded it only as a teaching prop, each knife was a torment, and as a result, he had not cut a thigh in the past month.
As a teenager, the saxophone had a psychological shadow on the anatomy| FROM UNCLE TUNGSTEN: MEMORIES OF A CHEMICAL BOYHOOD
The excessive manipulation of his parents did not stimulate Sachs's interest in dissection, but made him repulsive to surgery. He tried to study a wonderful and bloodless subject like chemistry, but he didn't get permission from his parents.
The ineffective Sachs applied to oxford next door to study physiology and biology in preparation for medical studies.
Not long after Sachs went to college, he revealed his secret during a father-son conversation. The father accidentally mentioned in the conversation that Sachs did not have a girlfriend, "Is it more like boys?" ”。 Sachs thought about it and admitted it, begging his father not to tell his mother.
In Britain at that time, homosexuality was considered a felony, and if it was discovered, it would either go to jail or be chemically castrated, and even a scientist like Turing, who had made a major contribution to Britain, was not spared at that time- he died shortly after being forced to undergo hormone injections and eating a poisoned apple stained with cyanide.
But Sachs's father reneged on his word.
Sachs' mother broke down on the spot, screaming on the stairs and even telling Sachs decisively, "I wish you had never been born." ”
After learning that Sachs was gay, the mother expressed apparent disgust. Sachs's aunt Lennie (pictured), who accepted him unconditionally, encouraged him later to become a writer|themarginalian.org
Before that, Sachs was very close to his mother. His mother was already a very good doctor in that era, and she hoped that Sachs would be as successful as she was, but Sachs seemed to have done almost nothing and caused a bunch of "trouble".
Not only was Sachs less popular with his family, but he didn't even go well in school. He was unable to do anything, often stabbed Lou Zi, and his compassion was too strong, and he could not bear the various bloody and life-and-death grief of the hospital, and it took a lot of effort to barely get a doctor's license.
Unable to find a direction in life, Sachs repeatedly ran into a wall, and in order to escape from reality, he decided to leave his hometown and fly alone to the American continent at the age of 27 to find the future.
Gray years
Sachs, who had just arrived in the Americas, did not have a good life, and because he had no other skills, he had to choose to find a job in the hospital and eat a meal.
With both family and school disappointment, coupled with Sachs's shyness and lack of self-confidence, he began to fantasize that if he had a strong body, he would gain self-confidence, so he went crazy for workouts and drag racing every weekend holiday.
In the following years, I saw him:
Fitness beaches with eight-pack abs, two-wheeled rides on the streets of New York;
Five hundred pounds of squats snatched the first place in California, and 100,000 miles drove to the land of the Americas.
The Oliver Sacks Foundation, a Venetian Beach | where Sachs conducts weight training
In fact, objectively speaking, Sachs is not serious about trying scientific research, he really wants to be a scientist, but it seems that there is always some force in the dark that stops him: when he was in college, he tried to overcome psychological obstacles and make up for the dissection, and the result was still the first to last; after graduation, he took the initiative to find a laboratory to study the nerve damage of animals, who knew that he did not make anything when he met the pit mentor, turned depression into appetite and ate himself into a big fat man; later went to the hospital for internship, and he either broke this precious instrument or lost the rare sample...
In addition to the pressure of scientific research, his love road has not been smooth. After a fruitless single relationship, he thinks he may not be able to have feelings with others for the rest of his life, often staying at home alone and not participating in academic activities.
Anyway, every effort, in exchange for always a blow. Later, he sank to the point of relying on drugs to release himself, and what banned drugs, marijuana, LSD, all sucked into the stomach.
At that time, Sachs often felt that he would not live to be 35 years old, he hated religion, he hated his parents, he hated Britain, he hated the world that made him suffer repeatedly.
arousal
But in 1967, the 34-year-old Sachs finally woke up after nearly dying after taking an overdose of psychotropic drugs.
He didn't want to die, he did something meaningful.
From the age of 6, he loved numbers, by the age of 10 he was fascinated by metals and minerals, and beyond, the doors of the worlds of elements, flora and fauna, and humans opened to him. From adulthood to now, it seems that the door of the world is closed.
If the way of scientific research cannot open these doors, then another way.
He quit ghost fire motorcycles, psychotropic drugs, and other insignificant hobbies and began to carefully plan for the future.
While riding a motorcycle, Sachs also lost his experimental data report, which flew | Oliver Sacks: His Own Life
He calculated that in the field of medicine, his favorite research was the brain and neuropathy; and in terms of skill points, although he was not good at surgery and experimentation, he insisted on reading a wide range of books for many years, and his literary creation was always superior. So combine the two, isn't it "writing neuropathy into a story".
The goal was there, and Sachs immediately put it into action.
At that time, because Sachs often ran into trouble, it was called a "laboratory broom star", and the leader advised him to do less experiments and go to the ward more. So he went to a local migraine clinic to work part-time as an outpatient doctor.
This chore that most researchers avoid, opened up a new world for Sachs, allowing him to experience confidence that he had never had in the laboratory.
The unfortunate experience of the early years made it easier for Sachs to empathize with patients, especially with neurological patients, and the more they talked, the more energetic they became. This invisibly helps him to understand more about patients, which can not only help patients better, but also accumulate rich writing materials.
Inspired by the writings of nineteenth-century medical writer Edward Liveing, he wrote his own scientific story documenting "clinical anecdotes" in migraine clinics, and the manuscript was strongly criticized by peer experts just after it was completed, notably his immediate boss, Arnold Lee, president of the Headache Section of the American Neurology Association. Arnold P Friedman reacted even more violently, dismissing him in anger, believing that Sachs was using patients in his hospital to write books in an attempt to challenge his authority.
Some distorted aura appears in the migraine patient's field of vision, which is the artist's painting based on the migraine| Petrie Serrano
But in any case, after the official publication of "Migraine", it was still well received by the medical community and most of the media, and even his old mother loved to read it, and after reading it, he was urged to quickly update the second book.
Sachs was greatly motivated. If drugging only gives him a false and short-lived pleasure, then writing gives him a real and lasting sense of accomplishment. So even after being expelled from the clinic, Sachs didn't stop.
Writing proved to be the lifeline in his life. He grabbed it and was able to escape from the dark years.
While preparing his second work, he returned to England. All summer long, he was writing at home, and his mother would read his manuscripts and help him revise them and give advice.
It was writing that allowed him and his mom to reconnect together.
If Migraine was a small experiment, his second work, Awakenings (also translated as "Sleeping Man"), was a huge success.
The book is also based on Sachs's personal experience. After leaving the migraine clinic, Sachs worked for a long time as a doctor at Beth Abraham Hospital. There, he met dozens of patients with sequelae of narcolepsy encephalitis.
This form of encephalitis, also known as "sleeping sickness," swept the globe in the 1920s and killed thousands of people. Some people who seem to be cured will suffer from Parkinson's-like syndrome decades later, and the state seems to be sleepy and sleepy, and the behavior is very strange.
In the sequelae of saxophones and drowsy encephalitis, the patient's state is sleepy and sleepy, and the behavior is strange| Imaginations
When Sachs approached these patients, he suddenly felt like he had come to an ancient tropical jungle, with strange movements such as combing, scratching, licking, sucking, etc., coupled with strange whining and whining, and all kinds of prehistoric ape behavior.
Sachs became intrigued by exploring the characteristics of the disease and possible treatments.
At that time, the scientific community had determined that the brains of Parkinson's patients lacked dopamine transmitters, and some people tried to improve the condition by supplementing patients with the precursor of dopamine, levodopa, and achieved initial results. Sachs thought that there were some similarities between sleeping sickness and Parkinson's symptoms, and maybe it would work?
So he applied for clinical research, and from 1969 onwards conducted double-blind trials. Unexpectedly, in just a few weeks, levodopa began to take effect, the patient's strange behavior gradually disappeared, and the human soul returned to their body again.
Sachs was so excited that he immediately expanded the scope of the test, and soon after, the patients miraculously "woke up" from their demented and sleepy state! Many people whose lives, suspended for decades, are starting to flow again, and they can even speak, write, sing, and play cards like normal people, and the once dreary wards are full of life.
But unfortunately, such a miracle is only a flash in the pan. After a period of time, the patients began to have adverse reactions and drug tolerance, no matter how the saxophone adjusted the dose, it could not prevent them from becoming sluggish and sleepy again, and the families of the patients who had seen a little hope fell into despair again...
Yes, Sachs still hadn't been able to shake off the curse of the experiment, and he had failed again. But this time, he withstood the blows of all walks of life. His heart seems to have also experienced an "awakening", realizing that as a doctor, he should not only focus on "illness" and ignore the concern for the patient himself. Especially for neurological diseases, there was basically no cure at that time, and listening and comforting may be the best treatment.
The trial initially yielded remarkable results, the patient returned to normal, but this miracle did not last long, and the patient fell into a coma again| Imaginations
Sachs has written a gripping story about the experiences of these sleepy patients, hoping that the world will learn from them, cherish the present, and remain optimistic in the face of irresistible tragedy.
As soon as it was published, "Awakening" became a bestseller and was well received by readers, and was later made into a documentary and film that swept the world, winning several Oscar titles.
The Washington Post commented: "Awakening is not only an amazing collection of medical records and stories, but also a memoir, a collection of moral essays and a romance... It's a work of genius. ”
Since then, a literary superstar in neuroscience has risen.
Write until you can't see the paper
After becoming famous, Sachs's career also gradually improved. He rose from a neglected neurology lecturer to clinical professor and became a popular neurologist at Beth Abraham Hospital.
He put all his energy into seeing a doctor and writing, working like crazy 18 hours a day. He encountered all kinds of bizarre neurological patients, and even many readers and fans wrote letters to inquire about the condition.
For example, a musician came to him, and his eyesight was completely fine, but he couldn't recognize a human face or gloves or anything like that. He always saw his wife as a hat, grabbed her head and tried to put it on his head, or recognized the fire hydrant as the head of a neighbor's child.
It turned out that he had a problem with the area of his brain responsible for processing images due to diabetes, and he could not recognize faces and scenes.
There was also an old lady who was blind in her old age, who suddenly said one day that when she was awake, she saw a group of people dressed in oriental costumes walking up and down the stairs, and one of the men smiled at her, showing his palm-sized teeth. The nurses at the hospital thought she was crazy, but Sachs diagnosed her and told her that there was nothing wrong with her sanity, just a vision of blindness: Charles Bonnet syndrome. The old lady was relieved.
Charles Bonnet recorded in 1760 this symptom of hallucinations in the brain due to decreased vision. This symptom was later named Bonnett Syndrome |litfl.com in 1937
Another visually impaired woman, her visions were even more peculiar: she often saw the people or roads in front of her suddenly split into many pieces, and then after a while they would fold together like an organ.
This kind of Bunnette syndrome is actually the subtemporal visual cortex at work, the cell population here stores a variety of images, normally only appear in dreams and imagination, and when the vision is impaired or blind, the cells that lose control will sometimes stitch these image clips and add special effects, play them in the background of the brain, resulting in visual hallucinations.
In this way, Sachs studied and recorded that in the decades after the completion of "Awakening", he continued to receive medical treatments and work tirelessly, trying to combine professional scientific knowledge with vivid stories. He successively wrote "Mistakenly Treating His Wife as a Hat", "Color Blind Island", "Illusion" and other works.
Even some of his own injury experiences have become valuable material.
One year he was on a trip to Norway and was accidentally pushed off a cliff by a bull, and his left leg was badly injured and twisted together like spaghetti. After recovering from the injury, he was unable to control the leg properly for a long time. He wrote this doctor-patient dialogue experience as "Standing on One Leg".
Later, he suffered from melanoma in his right eye and lost stereoscopic vision during treatment, which inspired him again, and after careful investigation and study of himself, he created a "Eye of the Mind".
In 2007, Columbia University hired him as a professor of neurology and psychiatry, created a new title specifically for him: "Columbia Artist," and awarded him the inaugural "Musical Power Award" in recognition of his contributions to music therapy.
Sachs' retirement was also particularly exciting: in addition to writing, he also insisted on swimming and playing the piano for many years, and was active in various speeches, interviews, documentaries, self-written and directed film and television dramas, musicals and so on.
Sachs himself starred in the autobiographical documentary | Oliver Sacks: His Own Life
He received numerous awards and accolades during his lifetime, being known as the greatest "clinical writer" and "poet laureate of medicine" of the twentieth century, and the Queen of England awarded him the Order of the British Empire, a newly discovered asteroid named after him.
In 2015, at the age of 82, Sachs was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he knew that his time was running out, and he continued to live a full life while writing his last book. He had written millions of words by then, but he still found it as fresh and interesting as when he first wrote.
"I would keep writing until I could no longer see the paper..."
Eventually, Sachs fulfilled his promise to himself and left contentedly, leaving behind a dozen books and thousands of medical records.
Despite the passing of the Slovaks, the spiritual wealth of Sachs has been passed down in this world for a long time, opening up a unique perspective for countless future generations to explore human neurological diseases.
Sachs took a photo in 2015, when he was still writing, and died on August 30 of that year| Bill Hayes
bibliography
[1] Oliver Sachs. Uncle Tungsten (CITIC Publishing Group, 2016)
[2] Oliver Sacks. On the Move：A Life（2015）
[3] Oliver Sacks. Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales（2015）
[4] Oliver Sachs. "Mistaking a Wife for a Hat" (CITIC Publishing Group, 2018)
[5] Oliver Sacks, MD, FRCP https://web.archive.org/web/20080713041725/http:/www.oliversacks.com/cv.htm
[6] Oliver Sachs: The mind behind the illusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgOTaXhbqPQ&t=494s
[7] Oliver Sacks: his own life https://www.oliversacksdoc.com
Author: Ying Qi
Editor: Small towel, you zhiyou
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