 | Dr. Oliver Sacks |
World-renowned neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, author of the bestsellers "Awakenings" and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," will present the 2004 Tanner Lectures on Human Values on Wednesday and Thursday, April 14 and 15.
On Wednesday, he will present a talk titled "Journey Into Wonder: Reflections on a Chemical Boyhood," looking back at his boyhood love of chemistry, and on Thursday, his topic will be "Awakenings Revisited," looking back on his book about the lives of the victims of an encephalitis epidemic who were catatonic for decades and then suddenly awakened by a new medication. Both talks will take place at 4 p.m. in Battell Chapel, corner of Elm and College streets, and both are free and open to the public.
Sacks has been credited with transforming understanding of the human mind by bringing storytelling to a central place in the practice of medicine -- repeatedly making his patients (himself included) the heroes of his case studies. Sacks' primary interest is in those minds that are defined by a different consciousness, showing how physiological deviation and restriction is turned into heightened forms of creativity and freedom.
His book "Awakenings" inspired a play by Harold Pinter and a Hollywood movie. There will be a screening of the film, which stars Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, in the Whitney Humanities Center auditorium, 53 Wall St. The screening is free and open to the public.
In "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," a collection of case histories from the borderlands of neurological experience, Sacks weaves together the wonders of the science of the mind and questions of the human condition. His other publications include "Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood," "The Island of the Color Blind and Cycad Island," "An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales," "Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the World of the Deaf," "A Leg to Stand On" and "Migraine."
Sacks is currently clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and adjunct professor of psychiatry at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. He is also scientific adviser at the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at the Beth Abraham Hospital, and consulting neurologist at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU Mt. Sinai Medical Center.
The appointment as Tanner Lecturer is a recognition for outstanding achievement in the field of human values. The Tanner Lectures were established by the American scholar, industrialist and philanthropist Obert Clark Tanner, who said, "I hope these lectures will contribute to the intellectual and moral life of mankind. I see them as a search for a better understanding of human behavior and human values."
This year's Tanner Lectures are being presented in conjunction with a symposium on "The Art of Medicine: Image-Making and Communication," to be held Thursday-Saturday, April 15-17. (See related story.)
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