Neurologist, Awakenings Author Oliver Sacks Dies at 82
This article, Neurologist, Awakenings Author Oliver Sacks Dies at 82, originally appeared on TVGuide.com.
Neurologist Oliver Sacks, who wrote the book Awakenings and was portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1990 movie of the same name, died Sunday at his home in New York City, The Associated Press reports. He was 82.
In February, Sacks announced that he was terminally ill, suffering from a rare form of eye cancer that had spread to his liver.
Born in London, Sacks received his medical degree from Oxford University and moved to New York to begin practicing neuroscience in 1965.
Sacks published several books highlighting rare afflictions among his patients and portraying the mentally ill in a compassionate, empathetic way.
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His best-known work, 1973's Awakenings, was about a group of hospital patients who spent their lives in limbo until Sacks broke through to them with a new treatment. A film adaptation, released in 1990, starred Robin Williams as Sacks and was nominated for three Academy Awards.
In 2002, Sacks received the Lewis Thomas Prize for science writing. His memoir, On the Move, was published in 2015.
