Periodic Table

Oliver Sacks was prolific. Besides 16 published books, he also left behind a legacy of brilliant essays, lectures, unpublished drafts, journals, letters, notes, marginalia, audio recordings, film, and more. Part of the Foundation’s work in the six years since he passed has been to gather, digitize, and share as much of that body of work as possible.

Last year, Oliver’s partner Bill Hayes invited us to visit his apartment and photograph some of the small, unassuming items that filled Oliver’s life.

One of the items we found most fascinating was Oliver’s wallet, with his New York driver’s license and other cards still inside. Where most people keep their photo ID, Oliver kept a small card printed with the periodic table of elements.

“Oh, I carry a periodic table in my wallet. I love it very much. It stands for order, stability – but it also stands for imagination and mystery. And some of the elements get very, very complicated, as you go above 92 and sort of relativistic and other considerations come in. For example, you cannot understand, on the basis of the periodic table, why gold is gold. It’s a very simple question. In fact, it turns out to be a very deep question. And I am not mathematical enough to tell you the answer. But it involves both quantum physics and relativity.”

Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood

"Artful, impassioned memoir of a youth spent lost in the blinding light of chemistry." — [...]

Gratitude

“A humane look at his own life, and death, told with good humor, acceptance, and that [...]

Periodic Table

Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood

Gratitude

"Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure."

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