Uncle Tungsten

 Oliver Sacks, the world famous neurologist and writer, wrote a memoir/chemistry book called Uncle Tungsten. He came from a large family and one of his Uncles got him interested in chemistry. His uncle worked with tungsten at his factory where they made the filaments for incandescent lights. Sacks grew  up in England. During world war two he and one of his brothers were evacuated to a school out in the country to be safe from the bombings. Although the headmaster had a good reputation before starting this school, he became sadistic. The children were not given enough food to eat. Food sent to the children by their families was confiscated for the headmaster and his family. Sacks and his brother never complained but other boys did and the school was eventually closed down. His parents were both physicians. Sacks went on house calls with his father. He observed births with his mother who was a gynecologist. As a boy, encouraged by his uncles, he got obsessed with chemistry. He would go to the local museum where they had a  huge periodic table of elements on the wall with samples of each element on display. Sacks would sit and stare at that table for hours trying to make sense of it all. I actually had to skim through some of the chemistry which has never been an interesting subject to me. I think Oliver Sacks is a fascinating fellow and it was interesting to hear about his early path in life.