Editing Oliver Sacks (section)

==Early life and education==
Oliver Wolf Sacks was born in [[Cricklewood]], London, England, the youngest of four children born to Jewish parents: Samuel Sacks, a [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian Jewish]]<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Meals and Memories|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/filter-fish|magazine=The New Yorker|date=7 September 2015|access-date=22 September 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923031729/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/filter-fish|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Profile: Oliver Sacks|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/05/booksonhealth.whauden|website=The Guardian|date=5 March 2005|access-date=22 September 2015|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910224711/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/05/booksonhealth.whauden|url-status=live}}</ref> doctor (died June 1990),<ref>''An Anthropologist on Mars'' (Knopf, 1995), p. 70</ref> and Muriel Elsie Landau, one of the first female surgeons in England (died 1972),<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-110718|title=Sacks, Oliver Wolf (1933–2015), neurologist |last=May |first=Alex|year=2019|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.110718|access-date=11 October 2019}}</ref> who was one of 18 siblings.<ref name="GuardianProfile">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/05/booksonhealth.whauden|title=Oliver Sacks Profile: Seeing double|last=Brown |first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Brown (writer)|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=5 March 2005|access-date=10 August 2008|archive-date=25 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225160619/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/05/booksonhealth.whauden|url-status=live}}</ref> She would sometimes bring home deformed fetusus from work, where she would dissect them with her son as a way for him to learn about human anatomy.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2010/oct/17/profile-oliver-sacks-author-neurologist Oliver Sacks: The visionary who can't recognise faces]</ref> Sacks had an extremely large extended family of eminent scientists, physicians and other notable people, including the director and writer [[Jonathan Lynn]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/.premium-1.638950|title=Herzog family tree|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=1 September 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923061444/http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/.premium-1.638950|url-status=live}}</ref> and first cousins the Israeli statesman [[Abba Eban]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webofstories.com/play/oliver.sacks/76|title=Oliver Sacks – Scientist – Abba Eban, my extraordinary cousin|publisher=Web of Stories|date=2 October 2012|access-date=24 August 2015|archive-date=19 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919031757/http://www.webofstories.com/play/oliver.sacks/76|url-status=live}}</ref> and the Nobel Laureate [[Robert Aumann]].<ref name=sabbath>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/oliver-sacks-sabbath.html|title=Oliver Sacks: Sabbath|newspaper=The New York Times|date=16 August 2015|access-date=24 August 2015|archive-date=21 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821161159/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/oliver-sacks-sabbath.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|Although it has been said that Sacks was a cousin of the former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom [[Jonathan Sacks, Baron Sacks]], the two were not related.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://leftfootforward.org/2015/09/times-apologises-for-saying-oliver-sacks-was-related-to-chief-rabbi-in-obituary/ |title=Times apologises for saying Oliver Sacks was related to chief rabbi in obituary|publisher=Left Foot Forward|date=2 September 2015|archive-date=2 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102170027/https://leftfootforward.org/2015/09/times-apologises-for-saying-oliver-sacks-was-related-to-chief-rabbi-in-obituary/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This confusion may be due to an obituary written by Oliver Sacks's nephew Jonathan Sacks.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sacks |first1=Jonathan |title=Oliver Sacks Remembered by his Nephew |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/27/oliver-sacks-reminiscence-obituary-nephew-neurologist-awakenings |website=The Guardian |date=27 December 2015 |access-date=10 May 2022 |archive-date=10 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510210043/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/27/oliver-sacks-reminiscence-obituary-nephew-neurologist-awakenings |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

In December 1939, when Sacks was six years old, he and his older brother Michael were evacuated from London to escape [[the Blitz]], and sent to a [[boarding school]] in the [[English Midlands]] where he remained until 1943.<ref name="GuardianProfile"/> Unknown to his family, at the school, he and his brother Michael "subsisted on meager rations of turnips and beetroot and suffered cruel punishments at the hands of a sadistic headmaster."<ref name=":0">Nadine Epstein, (2008), [http://www.momentmag.com/uncle-xenon-the-elemental-oliver-sacks-2/ Uncle Xenon: The Element of Oliver Sacks] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104185242/http://www.momentmag.com/uncle-xenon-the-elemental-oliver-sacks-2/|date=4 January 2016}} ''Moment Magazine''</ref> This is detailed in his first autobiography, ''[[Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood]]''.<ref name="uncle_tungsten">{{cite book|title=Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood|last=Sacks|first=Oliver|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|isbn=0-375-40448-1|year=2001|url=https://archive.org/details/uncletungstenmem00sack}}</ref> Beginning with his return home at the age of 10, under his Uncle Dave's tutelage, he became an intensely focused [[amateur chemist]]. Later, he attended [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]] in London, where he developed lifelong friendships with [[Jonathan Miller]] and Eric Korn.<ref>{{cite news|title=Eric Korn: Polymath whose work took in poetry, literary criticism, antiquarian bookselling and the 'Round Britain Quiz'|newspaper=The Independent|date=19 December 2014|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/eric-korn-polymath-whose-work-took-in-poetry-literary-criticism-antiquarian-bookselling-and-the-9934584.html|access-date=22 June 2019|archive-date=22 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622170023/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/eric-korn-polymath-whose-work-took-in-poetry-literary-criticism-antiquarian-bookselling-and-the-9934584.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Study of medicine===
During adolescence he shared an intense interest in biology with these friends, and later came to share his parents' enthusiasm for medicine. He chose to study medicine at university and entered [[The Queen's College, Oxford]] in 1951.<ref name="GuardianProfile"/> The first half studying medicine at Oxford is pre-clinical, and he graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] (BA) degree in physiology and biology in 1956.<ref name="WWW">{{cite web |title=Sacks, Oliver Wolf, (9 July 1933–30 Aug. 2015), neurologist and writer; Professor of Neurology, and Consulting Neurologist, Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, New York University, since 2012 |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U33627 |website=[[Who Was Who]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=25 June 2022 |date=1 December 2016 |archive-date=20 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120023945/https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-33627 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although not required, Sacks chose to stay on for an additional year to undertake research after he had taken a course by [[Hugh Macdonald Sinclair]]. Sacks recalls, "I had been seduced by a series of vivid lectures on the history of medicine and nutrition, given by Sinclair{{nbsp}}... it was the history of physiology, the ideas and personalities of physiologists, which came to life."<ref name=Move/> Sacks then became involved with the school's Laboratory of Human Nutrition under Sinclair. Sacks focused his research on the [[patent medicine]] [[Jamaica ginger]], a toxic and commonly abused drug known to cause irreversible nerve damage. After devoting months to research he was disappointed by the lack of help and guidance he received from Sinclair. Sacks wrote up an account of his research findings but stopped working on the subject. As a result he became depressed: "I felt myself sinking into a state of quiet but in some ways agitated despair."<ref name=Move/>

His tutor at Queen's and his parents, seeing his lowered emotional state, suggested he extricate himself from academic studies for a period. His parents then suggested he spend the summer of 1955 living on Israeli [[kibbutz]] [[Ein HaShofet]], where the physical labour would help him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.momentmag.com/book-review-on-the-move/|title=Book Review// ''On the Move''|last=Brent|first=Frances|date=1 September 2015|magazine=Moment|access-date=9 February 2016|archive-date=22 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222053436/http://www.momentmag.com/book-review-on-the-move/|url-status=live}}</ref> Sacks later described his experience on the kibbutz as an "anodyne to the lonely, torturing months in Sinclair's lab". He said he lost {{convert|60|lb|kg}} from his previously overweight body as a result of the healthy, hard physical labour he performed there. He spent time travelling around the country with time spent scuba diving at the [[Red Sea]] port city of [[Eilat]], and began to reconsider his future: "I wondered again, as I had wondered when I first went to Oxford, whether I really wanted to become a doctor. I had become very interested in neurophysiology, but I also loved marine biology;{{nbsp}}... But I was 'cured' now; it was time to return to medicine, to start clinical work, seeing patients in London."<ref name=Move/>

{{quote box||align=right|width=25em|bgcolor=Cornsilk|quote=My pre-med studies in anatomy and physiology at Oxford had not prepared me in the least for real medicine. Seeing patients, listening to them, trying to enter (or at least imagine) their experiences and predicaments, feeling concerned for them, taking responsibility for them, was quite new to me{{nbsp}}... It was not just a question of diagnosis and treatment; much graver questions could present themselves—questions about the quality of life and whether life was even worth living in some circumstances.|source= — Oliver Sacks<ref name=Move/>}}

In 1956, Sacks began his study of clinical medicine at the [[University of Oxford]] and [[Middlesex Hospital Medical School]].<ref name="WWW" /> For the next two-and-a-half years, he took courses in medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, dermatology, infectious diseases, obstetrics, and various other disciplines. During his years as a student, he helped home-deliver a number of babies. In 1958, he graduated with [[Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery]] (BM BCh) degrees, and, as was usual at Oxford, his BA was later promoted to a [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] (MA Oxon) degree.<ref name="CV">{{cite web |title=Oliver Sacks, MD, FRCP |url=http://www.oliversacks.com/cv.htm |url-status=dead |publisher=Official site |access-date=9 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080713041725/http://www.oliversacks.com/cv.htm |archive-date=13 July 2008}}</ref>

Having completed his medical degree, Sacks began his [[pre-registration house officer]] rotations at [[Middlesex Hospital]] the following month. "My eldest brother, Marcus, had trained at the Middlesex," he said, "and now I was following his footsteps."<ref name=Move/> Before beginning his house officer post, he said he first wanted some hospital experience to gain more confidence, and took a job at a hospital in [[St Albans]] where his mother had worked as an emergency surgeon during the war.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} He then did his first six-month post in Middlesex Hospital's medical unit, followed by another six months in its neurological unit.<ref name="WWW" /><ref name="CV" /> He completed his pre-registration year in June 1960, but was uncertain about his future.<ref name=Move/>